Unintended consequences of service robots – Recent progress and future research directions

Abstract

This editorial article provides a comprehensive review of the literature on the unintended consequences of service robots, examining past developments, current trends, and future directions. It begins by identifying six key themes in the field: (1) customers’ emotional responses, (2) customer misbehavior, (3) employee technostress, (4) privacy, ethics, and fairness concerns, (5) post-purchase behaviors and brand evaluations, and (6) negative aspects in business-to-business (B2B) contexts. We then relate the six articles featured in this special issue to these themes and detail the unique contributions of each. Finally, we outline the gaps in the literature and propose future research directions for each theme.