Augmented Empathic Capacity: An Integrative Framework for Supporting Customer Engagement Throughout the Automated Customer Journey

Abstract

The rise of automated touch points (ATPs) upsets firm-customer interactions, and its net effect on customer engagement (CE) is under scrutiny. We posit that ATPs negatively affect CE by degrading a firm’s empathic capacity. First, ATPs impair human interactions, which decreases the ability to share customers’ affective and mental states. Then, ATPs rely on computer-based solutions, which increases the ability to decode customers’ affective and mental states. However, decoding without sharing affective and mental states can lead to egocentric behaviors, which are reminiscent of those of a psychopath. This threat highlights the importance of redefining the boundaries of empathy. Accordingly, we introduce a new integrative framework: the augmented empathic capacity. It describes two routes that stem from the two main components of empathy: the socio-affective route and the socio-cognitive route. The socio-affective route relies on two emotional connection systems (bottom-up system, top-down system), and aims at sharing customers’ affective and mental states. The socio-cognitive route relies on two emotional appraisal systems (covert system, overt system), and aims at mentalizing customers’ affective and mental states. The joint evaluation of both routes enables to deploy an empathic chain value—the roadmap for promoting prosocial interactivity and CE throughout the automated customer journey.