Examining the Positive and Negative Effects of Smartness and Humanness in Human‐Robot Interactions

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores the positive and negative effects of perceived smartness and humanness on consumer acceptance of service robotic agents, particularly, regarding the formation of value creators such as trust and positive attitude toward human–robot interactions (HRIs) as well as value destructors such as perceived stress and negative emotion. Data were collected through a combination of fieldwork and experimental methods. The first study, a fieldwork approach, was conducted in a library that deployed the Temi robot. Findings from the fieldwork show the significant effects of robot smartness on stress and robot humanness on trust. Moreover, trust partially mediated the effect of robot humanness on intention to use. The second study comprised an online scenario‐based experiment designed to extend the findings from Study 1. The experiment validated the effects of perceived smartness on the value destructors and the effects of perceived humanness on the value creators. The study pinpoints the distinctive factors that impact consumer acceptance of service robots, offering actionable insights for deploying service robotic agents in frontline settings. By prioritizing design features that optimize HRIs, this research bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing a realistic view of consumer interactions with service robots.