ROBOT–BRAND FIT THE INFLUENCE OF BRAND PERSONALITY ON CONSUMER REACTIONS TO SERVICE ROBOT ADOPTION

Can every brand benefit from adopting service robots? To tackle this important question, we examined the interactive effects of brand personality (sincere vs. exciting) and service robot type (high-contact vs. low-contact) on customer reactions to service robot implementation. Results from three experimental studies indicate that customers tend to react negatively to high-contact robots when the brand had a sincere (vs. exciting) personality. This tendency is driven by the poor perceived fit between the sincere brand personality and the implementation of high-contact robots. However, such brand personality effects are mitigated in the adoption of low-contact robots. For a sincere brand adopting high-contact robots, we suggest that signaling warmth can enhance the perceived brand–robot fit and thereby reduce negative customer reactions.