Applying Service-Dominant Logic and Conversation Management Principles to Social Robotics for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Anthropomorphism in social robots amplifies the big five human personality traits (extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and agreeableness), consequently aiding with the social motivation needs of consumers (especially individuals with autism spectrum disorder or ASD). According to the social motivation theory of autism, consumers with ASD show deficits in orienting toward social stimuli, engaging with humans, and maintaining social relations. Robotic anthropomorphism has been found to be positively related to the big five human personality types and robot likeability in human-robot interaction (HRI) situations. This research focuses on the conversational approach of social robotics using service-dominant approach. Conversation-based perspectives have been studied extensively in organizational and management literature; however, these perspectives have not been utilized in the context of social robots, HRI, and autism.