The Impact of Consumer Socioeconomic Status on Their Preferences for Human Versus Robot Service Agents in Luxury Shopping Contexts

Service industries are increasingly utilizing service robots to substitute or collaborate with human service providers. Extant literature mainly focuses on studying the usability of service robots and found that consumers with high socioeconomic status (SES) have an advantage in adopting new technology, given their high educational level and abundant resources. However, little research has paid attention to the psychological preference of low SES consumers when facing the choice of service robots and human service agents. This research investigates how consumers' SES influences their concerns and expectations when facing interpersonal interactions in services and, in turn, affects their preferences for service agents (robot vs. human). Across four studies, we found that low SES consumers are more concerned of being evaluated by human service agents in luxury shopping contexts, leading to the preference for interacting with service robots. In contrast, high SES consumers display a higher expectation of receiving preferential treatment from human service agents, but it does not increase high SES consumers' preference for human service agents over service robots. Furthermore, we found that varying the service environment (i.e., a store located in a neighborhood matches with low SES consumers' status) attenuated low SES consumers' preference for service robots. This research offers novel insights for marketers' use of service robots to promote consumer experience and well-being.