How should companies use empathetic robots to drive consumer engagement, and under what conditions?
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
How does consumers’ perception of robot empathy facilitate their engagement with robotic services? To address this question, we investigate the experiences of actual robot users across various service settings. Drawing on insights from exploratory interviews, a field survey, and a series of field and lab experiments with both Japanese robot users and international consumers, our research highlights how robot empathy can enhance consumer escapism and future usage across hedonic and utilitarian settings. Our findings further show that robot empathy facilitates consumer escapism and engagement in service environments characterized by low privacy sensitivity but may hinder these outcomes when privacy concerns are high. Managers should therefore implement emotionally resonant and imagination-triggering empathetic behaviors when privacy sensitivity is low, but dial down emotional expressiveness and instead focus on neutral support and professionalism when privacy sensitivity is high. This research contributes to the growing literature on human-robot service interactions by offering actionable guidelines for designing empathetic robots.
Date Acceptance
2026-09-28
Citation
International Journal of Research in Marketing
ISSN
0167-8116
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Research in Marketing
Copyright Statement
Copyright This paper is embargoed until publication. Once published the author’s accepted manuscript will be made available under a CC-BY License in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy).
License URL
Publication Status
Accepted