Service outcome valence is a prominent contextual factor that has been under-researched in studies of consumer response to automated service-givers. We investigate whether consumers respond differently to chatbot and human customer service when faced with positive versus negative service outcomes. We also explore the role of perceived empathy as a potential mediator in the focal relationship. 714 individuals participated in three studies based on the vignette method. Study participants reported significantly lower satisfaction, repatronage intentions, recommendation acceptance, and recommending the provider to others following interactions with a chatbot compared with a human agent in both positive and negative service outcome conditions. The effect was fully mediated by the service-giver's perceived empathy. Increasing a chatbot's perceived empathy via more empathetic communication (but not human-like appearance) improved consumer evaluations of chatbot service relative to a less empathetic chatbot configuration and matched evaluations of the human agent. A fourth study involved a quasi-experiment in which 100 individuals interacted with ChatGPT to obtain medical advice. This study corroborated our conclusions about the impact of perceived empathy on consumers' service experience and provider ratings.

中文翻译：

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消费者对聊天机器人与人类服务的反应：对结果效价和感知同理心作用的调查

服务结果效价是一个突出的背景因素，在消费者对自动化服务提供者的反应研究中尚未得到充分研究。我们调查消费者在面对积极和消极的服务结果时对聊天机器人和人类客户服务的反应是否不同。我们还探讨了感知同理心作为焦点关系中潜在中介的作用。 714 人参与了基于 Vignette 方法的三项研究。研究参与者表示，在积极和消极的服务结果条件下，与人工代理相比，与聊天机器人互动后的满意度、回访意向、推荐接受度以及向其他人推荐提供商的程度均显着降低。这种效果完全是由服务提供者感知到的同理心来调节的。相对于较不具有同理心的聊天机器人配置和对人类代理的匹配评估，通过更具同理心的沟通（但不是类似人类的外观）来增加聊天机器人的感知同理心，可以改善消费者对聊天机器人服务的评价。第四项研究涉及一项准实验，其中 100 人与 ChatGPT 互动以获得医疗建议。这项研究证实了我们关于感知同理心对消费者服务体验和提供商评级影响的结论。