The adoption of AI service robots: A comparison between credence and experience service settings

TLDR

The study investigates whether consumers experience identical psychological processes when adopting AI service robots across different service settings. Multigroup SEM with 517 participants shows that perceived usefulness predicts adoption attitudes in credence settings (e.g., hospitals) but not in experience settings (e.g., cafés), while privacy concerns and trust consistently predict adoption across both settings.

Abstract

Abstract Would consumers experience the same psychological processes when adopting AI service robots in different service areas? Results of multigroup structural equation modeling ( n = 517) indicate that consumers' psychological processes are not the same in different service areas. Specifically, how consumers perceive AI service robots' usefulness is shown to be a significant underlying mechanism affecting consumers' attitudes toward adopting AI service robots in a service setting with a credence attribute (e.g., a hospital), but is not significant for a service setting with an experience attribute (e.g., a café). Furthermore, regardless of the different service settings, both privacy concerns and trust toward AI technology are shown to be significant antecedents, consistent with previous literature. Our results provide empirical insights at the intersection of psychology, marketing, and AI technology on how consumers adapt to using service robots across different service areas.