@article{2020:meyer:frontline_,
title = {Frontline Employees' Acceptance of and Resistance to Service Robots in Stationary Retail - An Exploratory Interview Study},
year = {2020},
note = {Due to rising online competition, increasing cost pressure and
cross-channel customer journeys, stationary retail has tried to
develop innovative value propositions and co-create value with
customers through new technologies, which are expected to profoundly
change the stationary retail’s service systems. Among other
technologies, service robots are said to have the potential to
revitalise interactive value creation in stationary retail. However,
the integration of such technologies poses new challenges. Prior
research has looked at customers’ acceptance of service robots in
stationary retail settings, but few studies have explored their
counterparts – the frontline employees’ (FLEs) perspective. Yet,
FLEs’ acceptance of service robots is crucial to implement service
robots for retail innovation. To explore FLEs’ acceptance of and
resistance to service robots, a qualitative exploratory interview
study is conducted. It identifies decisive aspects, amongst others
loss of status or role incongruency. The findings extend prior studies
on technology acceptance and resistance and reveal i.a. that FLEs
perceive service robots as both a threat and potential support.
Moreover, they feel hardly involved in the co-creation of use cases
for a service robot, although they are willing to contribute.},
journal = {SMR - Journal of Service Management Research},
pages = {21--34},
author = {Meyer, Patrick and Jonas, Julia M. and Roth, Angela},
volume = {4},
number = {1}
}