Enhancing corporate brands through service robots: The impact of anthropomorphic design metaphors on corporate brand perceptions
kHUB post date: September 2024
Originally published: February 24, 2024 (PDMA JPIM • Vol. 41, Issue 5 • September 2024)
Read time: 60 minutes
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The increasing introduction of intelligent, interactive robots in the service industry raises concerns about the potential dehumanization of service provision and its influences on corporate brand perceptions. To avoid adverse effects, new service development (NSD) managers seemingly favor service robots that feature anthropomorphic design metaphors, so they appear more human-like. The current research investigates explicitly how customers' perception of a robot's anthropomorphic design metaphors might spill over to affect corporate brand perceptions. Study 1, a picture-based scenario study with 109 participants, reveals the impact of anthropomorphic design metaphors on untested corporate brand outcomes, such as brand trust and brand experience. Then Study 2, a video-based scenario study with 530 participants, addresses whether these effects depend on the service context. In Study 3, a field study of 393 participants, the authors examine how anthropomorphic design metaphors influence other firm-related outcomes (e.g., shopping enjoyment, sales). The combined results confirm that anthropomorphic design metaphors strongly affect brand trust and brand experience, as well as other critical firm-related outcomes; they also reveal notable context effects, such that customers of people-processing (e.g., care services) and mental-stimulus-processing (e.g., shopping assistance) services appear more likely to use anthropomorphic design metaphors as corporate brand cues. Our research encourages NSD managers and scholars to consider the effects of introducing anthropomorphic service robots on corporate brands.
Practitioner Points
- New service development (NSD) managers are advised to select robots featuring anthropomorphic design metaphors to improve customers' service assessments and create enduring positive effects on the corporate brand. Such an approach is likely to enhance customers' trust in the corporate brand as well as the overall brand experience.
- It is crucial for NSD managers to consider the service context when employing service robots with anthropomorphic designs. The effectiveness of anthropomorphic design metaphors in improving corporate brand outcomes is notably amplified in service contexts where customers are direct recipients of the service, whether mentally or physically. Thus, NSD managers should encourage customers to engage directly with robots to enhance their appreciation of the interaction.
- Beyond enhancing customers' in-store shopping experiences, the use of service robots with anthropomorphic designs could lead to broader benefits, such as increased frequency of store visits and extended duration of those visits. This aspect should be a key consideration in NSD managers' strategic decisions.