Hospitality service agents’ roles in shaping psychological ownership

Abstract

This study investigates how and when human and non-human service agents influence customers’ perceptions and behaviors. Four experiments were conducted to test the relationships between service agents (human employees vs. robots), psychological ownership, contextual factors (i.e., crowding and service process stages), and extra-role behaviors in the restaurant context. The results demonstrate that customers associate higher psychological ownership with human-delivered services than with robot-delivered services, which in turn influences extra-role behaviors. Crowding and service process stages moderate this effect. In less-crowded settings, customers show higher ownership toward human-delivered services. Nevertheless, no difference was observed in more-crowded settings. The service stage is also critical, as human-delivered services prompt higher psychological ownership than robot-delivered services during the in-process stage. By contrast, no significant difference exists between service agent types in the pre- and post-process stages. These findings aid in formulating effective strategies for deploying human and non-human service agents in the hospitality industry. • Human employees increase psychological ownership of service more than robots. • Psychological ownership mediates the impact of service agent on extra-role behaviors. • Crowding and service process stage each moderate the impact of service agent on psychological ownership. • In less crowded settings, customers exhibit higher psychological ownership of services delivered by humans. • Services delivered by humans prompt higher psychological ownership during the in-process stage.