IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijoemp/ijoem-05-2021-0804.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of social class and service type on preference for AI service robots

Author

Listed:
  • Qi Yao
  • Zhangjian Wu
  • Wenkai Zhou

Abstract

Purpose - The research aims to explore the interaction effect of consumer social class and service type on consumers' preference for robot services, as well as the mediating role of risk aversion in this interaction effect. Design/methodology/approach - Experiment 1 is a field experiment with service type being the independent variable. The participants were divided into two groups based on the services they received (diagnostic dental services vs. hotel room services). 93 consumers participated voluntarily in the blind experiment and were asked if they would choose to allow a robot to perform the focal services. Experiment 2 employs a 2 × 2 factorial design: personal fitness trainer services at the gym vs wait staff services in a casual dining restaurant × higher- vs lower-social class, with 196 participants. Findings - Results from the two experiments show that participants in the higher-social classes were more willing than participants in the lower-social classes to choose robot services in credence-based service settings. More significantly, risk aversion mediated the interaction effect of social class and service type on participants' preference for robot services. Originality/value - Based on the credence-experience typology, this research is the first to discuss the weight of social class in consumer decision-making regarding preference for different types of robot services. Furthermore, by extending risk aversion to the robot services field, the current research sheds new light on this underlying mechanism that can inform future studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Yao & Zhangjian Wu & Wenkai Zhou, 2022. "The impact of social class and service type on preference for AI service robots," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(4), pages 1049-1066, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijoemp:ijoem-05-2021-0804
    DOI: 10.1108/IJOEM-05-2021-0804
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOEM-05-2021-0804/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOEM-05-2021-0804/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/IJOEM-05-2021-0804?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vishwakarma, Laxmi Pandit & Singh, Rajesh Kr & Mishra, Ruchi & Demirkol, Denizhan & Daim, Tugrul, 2024. "The adoption of social robots in service operations: A comprehensive review," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Yao, Qi & Hu, Chao & Zhou, Wenkai, 2024. "The impact of customer privacy concerns on service robot adoption intentions: A credence/experience service typology perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    3. Chi Zhang & Douglas W. Vorhies & Wenkai Zhou, 2023. "An integrated model of retail brand equity: the role of consumer shopping experience and shopping value," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(5), pages 398-413, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijoemp:ijoem-05-2021-0804. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.