管理工程学报2026，Vol.40Issue(5)：35-47,13.DOI:10.13587/j.cnki.jieem.2026.05.003
机器人还是服务商
Robots or service providers?A study on the influence of robots' empathetic responses on customers' responsibility attribution during service recovery
摘要
Abstract
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence,robots integrated with natural language processing functions have been widely used in various commercial service sectors such as catering,hotels,and tourism.Although customers expect these robots to perform tasks efficiently and accurately,service failures caused by robots are still inevitable,similar to human employees.In this context,timely and effective robot service restoration is crucial.Such an approach can not only compensate for the inherent lack of flexibility in robots,alleviate users'negative emotions and improve satisfaction,but also reshape customers'attribution of responsibility. However,existing research on robot service restoration has significant limitations:most studies only focus on its impact on customer satisfaction and continuous usage intention,while paying insufficient attention to how it affects attribution of responsibility.Meanwhile,previous studies mostly concentrate on robot responsibility attribution,ignoring the potential liability that service providers may bear,and thus fail to capture the dual nature of customers'responsibility attribution in the context of robot service failures.This research gap hinders a comprehensive understanding of how customers allocate responsibility between robots and service providers,and limits the practical value of existing research findings for robot designers and service management teams. Furthermore,as the demand for emotional intelligence in the service industry extends to human-robot interaction scenarios,robot empathy response has become a key service restoration strategy.Empirical studies have confirmed that robots with high empathy response can significantly improve customer acceptance and service satisfaction.Nevertheless,its specific role in shaping customers'attribution of responsibility remains to be further explored.Meanwhile,ubiquitous contextual factors in service scenarios(e.g.,time pressure)may moderate the relationship between robot empathy response and responsibility attribution,but this critical boundary condition has not been systematically examined in the existing literature,leaving unresolved questions such as when and how robot empathy response exerts the greatest impact on customers'attribution of responsibility. To fill the above research gaps,this study aims to achieve three core objectives:first,to explore the impact of robot empathy response during service restoration on two types of responsibility attribution(robot responsibility attribution and service provider responsibility attribution);second,to examine the mediating role of customer empathy in this relationship;third,to verify the moderating effect of time pressure on this mediating pathway.To ensure the robustness and generalizability of the results,this study adopts a mixed-method approach,including three scenario experiments and one questionnaire survey(supplemented by a supplementary experiment). The main findings are as follows.First,robot empathy response has a significant differentiated effect on responsibility attribution.Robots with low empathy response intensify customer dissatisfaction and lead customers to attribute primary responsibility to the robot itself.In contrast,robots with high empathy response prompt customers to think rationally,recognize that the robot's behavior is controlled and managed by the service provider,thereby reducing blame on the robot and increasing responsibility attribution to the service provider.Second,customer empathy plays a mediating role in the relationship between robot empathy response and responsibility attribution.As an emotional signal,robot empathy response can resonate with customers and arouse their empathy toward the robot.Such empathy enhances customers'tolerance,encourages them to consider external factors,and further shifts responsibility from the robot to the service provider.Notably,this study does not confirm the mediating effects of warmth perception and competence perception.Third,time pressure significantly moderates the mediating effect of customer empathy.High time pressure increases customers'cognitive burden,forcing them to focus on core tasks and ignore non-critical factors such as robot empathy response,which narrows their attention scope,reduces empathy ability,and consequently weakens the mediating effect.On the contrary,low time pressure enables customers to devote sufficient cognitive resources to perceive and respond to the robot's empathetic expression,thereby strengthening the mediating effect of customer empathy. This study makes the following important theoretical contributions.First,it constructs a dual responsibility attribution framework in the robot service context,filling the gap that previous research neglects service provider responsibility attribution.Second,by identifying the key mediating role of customer empathy,it clarifies the psychological mechanism between robot empathy response and responsibility attribution.Third,it identifies time pressure as a critical boundary condition,enriching the understanding of contextual factors influencing responsibility attribution in human-robot interaction.For practical implications,the findings provide actionable insights for relevant stakeholders:robot designers should prioritize the integration of empathy response functions,enabling robots to convey care through delicate language and interaction;service managers should implement differentiated strategies according to customers'time pressure,and arrange timely human intervention for customers under high time pressure;service providers should develop targeted service restoration plans:when robots display high empathy response,additional compensation and enhanced communication are required(to reduce the risk of being held responsible);when robots show low empathy response,emphasis should be placed on explaining technical improvement measures(to mitigate customers'negative evaluations of robots).关键词
机器人服务恢复/机器人移情反应/责任归因Key words
Robot service restoration/Robot empathy response/Attribution of responsibility分类
管理科学引用本文复制引用
侯如靖,张晓欣,张初兵..机器人还是服务商[J].管理工程学报,2026,40(5):35-47,13.基金项目
天津市艺术科学规划项目(B24068) The Tianjin Art Science Planning Project(B24068) （B24068）
