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The impact of the cuteness of service robots on consumers’ interaction willingness

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Abstract

With the advancement of artificial intelligence technology, service robots have become increasingly prevalent in various consumption scenarios. While prior studies have investigated the link between the anthropomorphism of service robots and consumers’ interaction willingness, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the impact of specific features of service robots on consumers’ interaction willingness. This research employs a pre-test and three experiments to test how service robots’ cuteness influences consumers’ willingness to interact. Specifically, Study 1 used a single factor between-subject design (19.5% male, Mage = 21.74, SD = 0.69, Nhigh cuteness = 39, Nlow cuteness = 38), revealing that service robots’ cuteness increases consumers’ willingness to interact. Study 2 also employed a single factor between-subject design (27.5% male, Mage = 20.14, SD = 0.53, Nhigh cuteness = 69, Nlow cuteness = 73), indicating that perceived pleasure mediates the influence of service robots’ cuteness on consumers’ interaction willingness. Moreover, Study 3 (26.5% male, Mage = 20.65, SD = 0.59, N = 170) showed that service type moderates the impacts of service robots’ cuteness on consumers’ willingness to interact through a two-factor between-subject design. Specifically, for hedonic services, the higher cuteness of service robots leads to a greater willingness to interact. In contrast, for functional services, service robots’ cuteness does not significantly affect consumers’ willingness to interact. This research makes key contributions to the field of human-robot interaction and provides valuable insights for enterprises to strengthen the implementation of service robot strategies.

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Data Availability

The data supporting the conclusions of this study can be obtained by contacting the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71672201, No. 71832015, No. 72302242) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 20wkzd18, No. 2023qntd32).

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71672201, No. 71832015, No. 72302242), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 20wkzd18, No. 2023qntd32).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Marxism, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People’s Republic of China

    Leilei Guo

  2. School of Business, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People’s Republic of China

    Jianping Liang, Yanshan Huang & Juncheng Shang

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  1. Leilei Guo
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Contributions

Leilei Guo: formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims, theory development or design of methodology; data analysis; original draft preparation; improving the paper and respond to review comments

Jianping Liang: conceptualization; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; providing guidance (in theory development, experimental design, data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing) and experimental fund supports. Supervisor of the whole project.

Yanshan Huang: formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; assist in the collection of experimental data.

Juncheng Shang: original draft preparation.

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Correspondence to Jianping Liang.

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The current research was approved by Research Ethics Committee, Sun Yat-sen University. This paper comprises original work and has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. The authors understand that submission of the paper implies the transfer of the copyright from the authors to the Current Psychology publisher.

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Guo, L., Liang, J., Huang, Y. et al. The impact of the cuteness of service robots on consumers’ interaction willingness. Curr Psychol 43, 12402–12411 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05365-8

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