More Polite, More Immoral: How Does Politeness in Service Robots Influence Consumer Moral Choices?

Abstract

Service robots are increasingly communicating with consumers in a more human-like manner, such as politeness language strategy. However, it has remained unknown whether consumers follow the same ethical standards and norms in interactions with non-human service providers as they do in traditional interpersonal relationships. Therefore, in this paper across four studies (3 vignette-based experiments and 1 interview) to examine the main and interaction effects of robot politeness and consumers’ self-construal types (independent vs. interdependent) on consumers’ moral choices as well as the mediating effects of perceived threat and empathy. The results indicate that independent self-construal (vs. interdependent self-construal) consumers are more likely to exhibit unethical behavioral intentions when interacting with a service robot that communicates in a polite way, as it increases perceived threat (vs. perceived empathy) among these consumers. The findings of this paper contribute to the fields of human–computer interaction, service marketing, consumer psychology, and communication by providing valuable empirical evidence on how the politeness of robot communication influences consumers’ ethical values and moral choices. In addition, the findings offer valuable practical implications for robot designers, service providers, and marketers.