Robots with a Human Partner: The Secret to Winning Consumers Over?

By Dr. Rocky Peng CHEN & Prof. Wa Kimmy CHAN

As AI breakthroughs capture global attention, tech-powered artificial agents (AA) are popping up everywhere, including in the workplace. But despite the success of tools like ChatGPT, skepticism—and perhaps fear—lingers over the potential of AAs to replace human workers. Can we really trust robotic creative workers? A recent study highlights[1] some key traits that could boost workplace acceptance of these technologies.

Firms are increasingly relying on creativity to meet customers’ unique demands, particularly in design-focused industries like fashion and interior design. Meanwhile, these sectors are leveraging advanced technologies, including both physical and virtual autonomous agents, that support service delivery by handling certain tasks. Stitch Fix, for instance, integrates AAs with human stylists to deliver personalised styling, while musicians collaborate with AA platform Mubert to compose new pieces.

While these human-AI collaborations have the potential to revolutionise creative processes, enhance efficiency, cut costs and    reduce employee workloads, consumers remain hesitant. Seen as suitable for mundane tasks like inventory forecasting, many doubt AA’s ability to generate original products or ideas. As a result, consumers tend to undervalue creative works such as music or paintings produced by AAs. One solution? Pairing human employees with anthropomorphized AAs as part of a service team.

After conducting five studies across sectors like interior design and shopping with participants from China, the United Kingdom, and the United States (both online shoppers and people recruited from online panels), researchers find that humanising the artificial agent can facilitate a trait transference process, in which consumers believe that the human employee can transfer creativity to the artificial agent in the service team. Findings indicate that customers not only perceive products and services as more creative when AAs that work closely with humans are anthropomorphized but are more likely to buy too. They also enjoy the level of service delivered by such teams. However, this effect weakens when customers lack the belief that “birds of a feather flock together”, when the collaboration between the AA and the human is short, or when the purchase objective is more utilitarian than hedonic, like when a tech-savvy shopper selects a laptop based solely on technical specifications rather than the overall customer service experience.

Since teams composed of a human and an anthropomorphized AA are viewed favourably by consumers, they offer potential cost-saving opportunities to firms. However, with lingering doubts about AAs' creative abilities, companies should highlight the importance of human-machine collaboration. Coordinating employees and AAs by, for example, matching uniforms, reinforcing the perception of long-term partnerships, identifying consumers' biases and promoting hedonistic consumption can also help bridge the machine trust gap. Still, it seems there’s no replacing the human touch when it comes to making consumers comfortable with robots!

Reference:

[1]  Huang, L. L., Chen, R. P., & Chan, K. W. (2024). Pairing Up with Anthropomorphized Artificial Agents: Leveraging Employee Creativity in Service Encounters. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52(4), 955–975. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01017-w