scholarly journals How does an Intelligence Chatbot Affect Customers Compared with Self-Service Technology for Sustainable Services?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taehyee Um ◽  
Taekyung Kim ◽  
Namho Chung
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Communication Interface ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Self Service ◽  
Sustainable Services ◽  
Self Service Technology

To gain competitive advantages and sustainable service innovation, hotels are considering artificial intelligence technologies (AI), including robots, kiosks for service automation and chatbots. However, due to the change of the service process and unfamiliar communication interface, hotel customers may have difficulties in adopting the new change. In this paper, we tried to find out if the failure of AI-based services would affect customers’ perception. For this, we designed the experiment by separating AI (i.e., chatbot) services and self-service technology (SST, i.e., pad) services and service failures and successful cases, respectively. As a result, SST showed more positive perceptions and revisit intention in the successful service situation. The service failure situation showed no differences between chatbot and SST. In addition, novelty and the need for interaction characteristics of customers showed significant differences between groups in terms of service success and failure, respectively. Additionally, we explored negative word-of-mouth (WOM) to learn further effects by service failures and successes.

Consumer responses to the failure of self-service banking technology: moderating role of failure stability

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nedra Bahri Ammari ◽  
Abir Hsouna ◽  
Mounia Benabdallah ◽  
Anish Yousaf ◽  
Abhishek Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
The Self ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Dissatisfaction ◽  
Self Service ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Self Service Technology ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of dissatisfaction and anger, driven by the failure of the self-service technology of banks, on customers' post-purchase behavioural reactions, such as complaints, negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) and supplier change. The stability of the failure is proposed to moderate these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed research model was tested through data collected from an online survey of a Tunisian sample of 300 respondents, using the scenario method.FindingsThe study validates the positive impact of dissatisfaction on anger and negative word-of-mouth, as well as that of anger on complaint behaviour and negative word-of-mouth. The relation between dissatisfaction and negative word-of-mouth is mediated by anger. When the failure is stable, dissatisfied users of the self-service technology seek to enhance their negative word-of-mouth and supplier change. The results also show that the stability of the failure enhances the effect of anger on complaint behaviour.Practical implicationsBanks should invest efforts to accelerate the recovery of services to reduce consumer dissatisfaction and anger and prevent adverse behavioural outcomes. Further, they need to ensure that failures are not repeated, as failure stability activates some otherwise non-significant behavioural outcomes, like supplier change.Originality/valuePrevious works have focused on the impact of dissatisfaction and negative emotions for interpersonal services, but very few works have come to associate dissatisfaction, anger, complaint, negative word-of-mouth and supplier change in an integrative framework for an self-service technology failure.

Does anthropomorphism influence customers’ switching intentions in the self-service technology failure context?

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 713-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alei Fan ◽  
Luorong (Laurie) Wu ◽  
Anna S. Mattila
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Responses ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Self Service ◽  
Self Service Technology ◽  
Sense Of Power

Purpose To enhance customer experiences, firms are increasingly adding human-like features to their self-service technology (SST) machines. To that end, the purpose of the present study is to examine customer interactions with an anthropomorphic machine in a service failure context. Specifically, the authors investigate the joint effects of machine voice, an individual’s sense of power and the presence of other customers in influencing customers’ switching intentions following an SST failure. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used a quasi-experimental design in which they manipulated voice type (anthropomorphic vs robotic) and the presence of other customers (present vs absent) in video-based scenarios while measuring customers’ sense of power. The scenarios reflected a service failure experience with a self-service kiosk at an airport. The authors tested the hypotheses using PROCESS analyses with the Johnson–Neyman technique. Findings Consumer reactions to SST failures vary depending on the degree of anthropomorphism associated with an SST machine, an individual’s sense of power and the presence of other customers. Research limitations/implications Field inquiry and an investigation in other SST contexts or of other anthropomorphic features are needed to generalize the findings. Practical implications Service providers targeting powerful consumers should consider the social presence of others when incorporating anthropomorphic features into their SST facilities. Originality/value This study is the first to examine consumer responses to service failures in an anthropomorphic SST context.

EXPRESS: Religious Belief, Religious Priming, and Negative Word-of-Mouth in Everyday Service Failure Encounters

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372110111
Author(s):  
Riza Casidy ◽  
Adam Duhachek ◽  
Vishal Singh ◽  
Ali Tamaddoni
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Fairness Norms ◽  
Strategic Variable

This research examines the effects of religious belief and religious priming on negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) behavior. Drawing on social exchange and norm paradigms, we theorize and find evidence of the unique effects of religious belief and religious priming on NWOM in everyday service failure encounters. Specifically, we find that religious belief is associated with higher NWOM, driven by a greater sensitivity to violations of fairness norms, which in turn reduces forgiveness. However, exposure to religious priming attenuates NWOM among more religious consumers by reducing sensitivity to violations of fairness norms, which in turn enhances forgiveness. A field study involving over 1.2 million online reviews of actual restaurant experiences, in addition to four lab studies, provides support for our theorized effects. Our study sheds light on the religion–forgiveness discrepancy by establishing the mediating role of sensitivity to fairness violations on the relationship between religion and forgiveness in the NWOM context. Further, our results demonstrate the importance of religion as a strategic variable in the management of service failure experiences, providing theoretical implications for the literature on the effects of religion on consumer behavior.

Service failures as triggers of superior brand evaluations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Hutzinger ◽  
Wolfgang Weitzl
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Electronic Word Of Mouth ◽  
Source Information ◽  
Brand Evaluations ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Complaint Handling ◽  
The Right ◽  
Potential Customers

In pursuit of better purchasing decisions (e.g., choosing the right restaurant or hotel), prospective customers increasingly turn to social media, such as Facebook, to source information about new products, services and brands. On Facebook, a brand’s former, current and potential customers are not only exposed to marketer-created brand postings, but also to other customers’ subjective evaluations, personal thoughts and feelings regarding their consumption experiences (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). Research has shown that consumers strive for multifaceted goals when sharing consumption-related postings online. For instance, some satisfied customers want to help the company by posting favorable statements about a positive brand experiences, known as positive electronic word of mouth or PeWOM (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004), while others want to help their fellow shoppers by giving a neutral description of a regular brand experience (ReWOM). However, many dissatisfied customers also use Facebook brand-pages as a public platform to express their unfavorable thoughts and negative emotions (e.g., anger) after a service failure by means of an online complaint or negative electronic word of mouth (NeWOM; Ward & Ostrom, 2006; Weitzl et al., 2018). Consumers that are directly affected by the service failure and involved in the recovery process are referred to as complainants. The reasons why customers spread NeWOM are diverse. They range from venting (i.e., lessening his/her frustration and reduce anger), via revenge (i.e., intentionally sabotaging and harming the company; Grégoire et al., 2009), warning others (Willemsen et al., 2011), to advice seeking (to acquire new skills/information to better use and/or repair the product; Willemsen et al, 2013). Earlier research demonstrates that online complaints can have strong and diverse detrimental effects, particularly on a brand’s potential customers (so-called online complaint bystanders), including unfavorable attitudes and an increased willingness to criticize the involved brand to others (e.g., Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2006; Sen & Lerman, 2007). However, evidence also exists that ‘webcare’, which is company’s online complaint handling response to a public complaint can repair negative reactions of these bystanders to some extent (e.g., Weitzl & Hutzinger, 2017). It remains, nevertheless, unclear how far such positive reactions can be stimulated with webcare among NeWOM bystanders.

Customer Dissemination of Negative Word-of-Mouth: Influence of Expected or Unexpected Events

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 1675-1687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Hone Tsai ◽  
Chienhao Liao ◽  
Ren Gih Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Factorial Experimental Design ◽  
Unexpected Events ◽  
Relationship Type ◽  
Relationship Types

We examined how expected or unexpected costs affect restaurant customers' attitudes toward the dissemination of negative word-of-mouth (WOM) when service failure occurs. A 2 (customer punishment: expected and unexpected) × 3 (relationship type: encounter, pseudo, and intimate) mixed factorial experimental design was adopted to examine the dissemination of negative WOM. The results indicated that service failure exerted significant and nonsignificant primary effects on expected punishment and relationship type, respectively. A significant interaction was observed between expected punishment and both encounter and intimate relationship types, but not between expected punishment and the pseudo relationship type. In sum, expected punishment and relationship type influenced negative WOM.

scholarly journals Exposing Pinocchio customers: investigating exaggerated service stories

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd C. Harris ◽  
Raymond P Fisk ◽  
Hana Sysalova
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Consumption Experience ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose While the links between customer word-of-mouth and desirable organizational outcomes have been widely studied, the possibility that customers might routinely exaggerate their consumption experience stories has been neglected. Design/methodology/approach The first exploratory study examined exaggerated and unexaggerated word-of-mouth and the targets of such activities. The second exploratory study focused on customer-exaggerated negative word-of-mouth and its drivers. The two experimental studies generated deeper insights into attributions of service failure and exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Findings This research explicitly addresses customer exaggeration regarding service consumption and the reasons customers engaged in such behaviors. Study 1 focused on the scope and targets of exaggerated word-of-mouth, and Study 2 concentrated on identifying the drivers of exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Studies 3 and 4 experimentally elucidated the cognitive mechanisms leading to exaggeration. Research limitations/implications Contributions include deeper understanding of the phenomenon of exaggerated negative word of mouth and developing and testing a model of the factors associated with consumers’ exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Practical implications Implications include possible organizational and public policy actions to prevent Pinocchio customers from exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Originality/value This paper explores the nature and scope of exaggerated customer word-of-mouth and contributes insights in four ways. First, this research explores the scope of consumer exaggeration during word-of-mouth storytelling and the intended targets of such communications. Second, this research focuses on exaggerated negative word-of-mouth and develops a conceptual model of the drivers of such activity. Third, the theory is tested and contributes empirical insights into exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Fourth, through experiments, insights are gained into the cognitive mechanisms leading to exaggeration and the effects of attribution differences in personal versus service provider blame.

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