Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/38678
Title: Frontline employee expectations on working with physical robots in retailing
Authors: WILLEMS, Kim 
Verhulst, Nanouk
De Gauquier, Laurens
BRENGMAN, Malaika 
Issue Date: 2023
Publisher: EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD
Source: Journal of service management (Print), 34 (3), p. 467-492
Abstract: Purpose Service robots have increasingly been utilized in retail settings, yet empirical research on how frontline employees (FLEs) might deal with this new reality remains scarce. This mixed-methods study aims to examine how FLEs expect physical service robots to impact job characteristics and affect their job engagement and well-being. Design/methodology/approach First, explorative interviews (Study 1; N = 32) were conducted to investigate how FLEs currently experience job characteristics and how they believe robots might impact these job characteristics and job outcomes. Next, a survey (Study 2; N = 165) examined the relationship between job characteristics that retail FLEs expect to be impacted by robots and their own well-being and job engagement. Findings While the overall expectations for working with robots are mixed, retail FLEs expect that working with robots can alleviate certain job demands, but robots cannot help to replenish their job resources. On the contrary, most retail FLEs expect the pains and gains associated with robots in the workspace to cancel each other out, leaving their job engagement and well-being unaffected. However, of the FLEs that do anticipate that robots might have some impact on their well-being and job engagement, the majority expect negative effects. Originality/value This study is unique in addressing the trade-off between expected benefits and costs inherent to job demands-resources (JD-R) theory while incorporating a transformative service research (TSR) lens. By integrating different streams of research to study retail FLEs' expectations about working with robots and focusing on robots' impact on job engagement and well-being, this study offers new insights for theory and practice.
Notes: Willems, K (corresponding author), Vrije Univ Brussel, Dept Business Mkt & Consumer Behav, Brussels, Belgium.; Willems, K (corresponding author), Hasselt Univ, Dept Mkt & Strategy, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
kim.willems@vub.be; nanouk.verhulst@vub.be; laurens.de.gauquier@vub.be;
Malaika.Brengman@vub.be
Keywords: Service robots;Frontline employee;JD-R model;Retail;Transformative service research;Well-being;Physical robot
Document URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/38678
ISSN: 1757-5818
e-ISSN: 1757-5826
DOI: 10.1108/JOSM-09-2020-0340
ISI #: 000852027500001
Rights: 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited
Category: A1
Type: Journal Contribution
Validations: ecoom 2023
Appears in Collections:Research publications

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