EXPRESS: Do Robots Serve Brands’ Socially Responsible Image? How Mixed Signals Shape Consumers’ Brand Preference and Engagement

Brands increasingly adopt two strategies in tandem: they use artificially intelligent agents, such as service robots, to more efficiently serve customers, and they engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to positively shape brand-related perceptions and behaviors. In this research, across four studies (including a pilot study, an online interaction with an AI-powered robot and three pre-registered studies, involving real and fictitious brands and intentional and actual behavior) we provide evidence for the notion that these two strategies are not necessarily compatible. We reveal the counterintuitive and nuanced finding that brands engaging in high fit CSR suffer more from the introduction of service robots than brands that engage in low fit CSR. This outcome is explained by a perceived lack of alignment in consumers’ attributions regarding brands’ motivations behind the two strategies, especially regarding the brand’s profit maximization intentions. We further identify two managerially actionable moderators. First, a communal service robot strategy can mitigate the negative impact of service robots in instances of high fit CSR. Second, a more communal CSR implementation (i.e., volunteering time compared to donating money) can lead to a negative impact of service robots also when a firm pursues a low fit CSR strategy.