Support Service Robots Showing Social Support

This post is about robots serving restaurant diners. I realize few of you are currently running that kind of restaurant or are dining these days in restaurants where you’re served by a robot. So at the end of this post, I’ll present a tip for the many intending to provide services to consumers using digital agents and for any consumer who recognizes the inevitability of dealing with digital agents.
     Research conducted by a team at the University of Augsburg examined a situation in which the robot server delivered the wrong food to the diner. The researchers asked whether characteristics of the robot could lessen the diner’s dissatisfaction when the robot apologized. The study results showed that a more human-like voice helped, compared with a more mechanical-sounding voice, but primarily when no monetary compensation was offered.
     The explanation is rooted in perceived social support: Consumers may respond more positively when the robot’s voice conveys warmth, care, and understanding. Voice plays a central role in communicating these social cues. In the studies, voice characteristics mattered more than the robot’s physical appearance: A human-like voice improved consumer responses, whereas a more human-like appearance did not produce the same effect.
     The University of Augsburg researchers also found that when diners were offered monetary compensation, such as a discount on the cost of the meal, the robot’s voice mattered much less. In this case, compensation already addressed the service failure, reducing the need for social cues conveyed through the robot’s voice.
     Researchers at TBS Business School, University of Agder, and University Toulouse Capitole concluded that when interacting with any voice-assisted artificial intelligence device, users prefer hearing a female over a male voice. Here the explanation is that people perceive women as more likely than men to experience emotions and consider our unique needs. Those assumptions subconsciously generalize to influence impressions of an automated voice such that female chatbots are perceived to have more positive qualities than male chatbots.
     One implication of all this is to offer monetary compensation for a service failure by a robot or digital agent when it’s financially prudent for the business.
     My tip to apply to circumstances where a robot, digital agent, or chatbot communicates via voice and might make mistakes for which monetary compensation won’t be offered: Have the voice sound like an empathic woman. Bonus tip: Decide whether to check the consumer realizes they’re talking with a robot.

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