Moritz Merkle

About

Moritz Merkle is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction, with a specific focus on the adoption and impact of humanoid service robots in both customer-facing and workplace settings. His work bridges technology acceptance and role theory to understand how people perceive and trust robotic agents. Merkle’s most influential contribution is the development of the Service Robot Acceptance Model, published in 2017, which has garnered 85 citations and provides a foundational framework for studying user expectations during service encounters. He has also conducted pivotal comparative studies—cited 72 times—showing that humanoid robots can sometimes outperform human employees in innovative behavioral cues, while his 2019 work (28 citations) examines how service failures uniquely affect customer satisfaction in human-robot interactions. Extending his research into organizational contexts, Merkle has explored employee trust in assistive robots, notably within Merck KGaA, and has led cross-cultural surveys across Germany, the US, and India to map global attitudes toward humanoid robots. His work is essential reading for scholars and practitioners designing robots that integrate seamlessly into social and professional environments.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   A service Robot Acceptance Model: User acceptance of humanoid robots during service encounters

   85 citations · 2017
2. 2
   Can Humanoid Service Robots Perform Better Than Service Employees? A Comparison of Innovative Behavior Cues

   72 citations · 2018
3. 3
   Customer Responses to Service Robots – Comparing Human-Robot Interaction with Human-Human Interaction

   28 citations · 2019
4. 4
   When Robots Enter Our Workplace: Understanding Employee Trust in Assistive Robots

   6 citations · 2019
5. 5
   Humanoid Service Robots

   5 citations · 2021
6. 6
   A Cross-Country Comparison of Attitudes toward Humanoid Robots in Germany, the US, and India

   4 citations · 2019

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links