The effect of robot service quality on consumer repurchase intention with customer experience as a mediating variable at Dunkin' Philippines

• Main Authors: Lopez, Kendale Joshua C., Nolasco, Joseph Venjamin C., Park, Jimin, Polines, Chrys Daicee T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: Robots, Industrial; Customer services; Consumer behavior; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_dsi/159; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdb_dsi/article/1152/viewcontent/The_Effect_of_Robot_Service_Quality_on_Consumer_Repurchase_Intent2_Redacted.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Service robots in restaurants have slowly become a global trend as machines and automation dominate industries. Countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea have been leading Asia in utilizing robots as waiters at restaurants. Dunkin', one of the leading baked goods and coffee chain companies, have launched its first-ever server robot, named Number 1, in the Philippines. Several studies have claimed that good service and customer experience improve a consumer’s intention to come back and purchase a product again. However, this research aims to explore the effect of service rendered by robots, hence, robot service quality on consumers’ repurchase intention as mediated by customer experience. The research uses six constructs of robot service quality, namely Tangibles, Responsiveness, Reliability, Assurance, Empathy, and Entertainment, and four constructs of Customer Experience, namely Cognitive, Sensory, Affective, and Conative. These constructs were based on several studies and were used as the basis to formulate the questionnaire distributed to 200 participants to gather quantitative data. Qualitative were gathered through an interview and discussion with workers and customers, respectively. Results have shown that each of the six variables of Robot Service Quality has a significant and positive effect on Customer Experience. Similarly, the four variables of Customer Experience have a significant and positive effect on Consumers' Repurchase Intention. However, customer experience did not mediate robot service quality to repurchase intention. The study revealed that only a direct effect happens between robot service quality and repurchase intention.