The robot saw it coming : Physical human interference, deservingness, and self-efficacy in service robot failures

Robotic services’ popularity continues to increase due to technological advancements, labour shortages, and global crises. Yet, while providing these services, robots are subject to occasional physical interruption by humans to them, thus restricting their functioning and, at times, leading to failure. To investigate this issue, the present study examined the role of third-party human interference in service robot failures and its effects on the observers’ attitudes towards and willingness to engage with the robot. We manipulated human interference resulting in different robotic service failures in two online scenario-based experiments. The results revealed that individuals held less favourable attitudes towards a failed service robot without (vs. with) physical human interference, and they were less willing to engage with the failed service robot without (vs. with) physical human interference. The perceived deservingness of the robot accounted for this effect, moderated by the person’s self-efficacy regarding robots. The results are discussed with their implications for not only the theory of service failures and human-service robot interactions but also for robotic service providers.