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The Effects of a Service Robot’s Customer Orientation and Customer Readiness on Trust Formation and Trust Transfer in Service Robots

Choi, Sang Mook, Choi Do-Young

Daejeon University
Daejeon University

Published: January 2025 · Vol. 54, No. 1 · pp. 191-218

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2025.54.1.191

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Abstract

In the era of service economy, service robots are attracting attention as an alternative to solve the industrial structural issue of labor shortage due to population decline as various service systems are introduced. From this perspective, the evaluation of service robots that replace existing human resources at service contact points is important for both service robots as service providers and customers as demanders. This study aimed to examine whether trust is formed between the customer orientation of service robots and customer readiness at service contact points, and whether the formed customer trust is transferred to the place where the service robots are operated and employees. For empirical analysis, a survey was conducted targeting the general public who experienced the service provided by service robots and analyzed using a structural equation model. The results of the study confirmed that customer trust in service robots at service contact points is formed in two dimensions: cognitive trust and emotional trust. This academic contribution is that it confirms that interpersonal trust formed in the relationshipbetween employees and customers is formed equally in the relationship between service robots as human substitutes and customers, and that cognitive trust and emotional trust are transferred to the place and employees. Based on this, implications are suggested.
Keywords: 서비스 로봇고객지향성고객준비도인지적 신뢰정서적 신뢰신뢰 전이