Are Customers Ready for Intelligent Automation Service Without Humans? The Role of Customer Engagement and Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

Intelligent automation is increasingly deployed in service settings, yet its effects on customer loyalty remain unclear. This study examines how different degrees of intelligent automation; human-only service, partial automation with human support, and full automation without human involvement, shape customer loyalty, and investigates the mediating role of customer engagement and the moderating role of emotional intelligence. Using a field experiment in the hospitality context, the findings reveal a non-uniform pattern: full intelligent automation reduces customer loyalty relative to human-only service, whereas partial automation mitigates this negative effect and performs more favorably than full automation. These effects operate through selected dimensions of customer engagement, while other dimensions show limited or null effects. Emotional intelligence further conditions customer responses, highlighting important boundary conditions. Overall, the results demonstrate that the impact of intelligent automation on customer loyalty is contingent rather than uniformly positive.