Synthesizing the state-of-the-art of human-robot interaction for designing the organizational frontline OF the future

Service robots are increasingly deployed in the organizational frontline and serviceresearch is beginning to unravel the implications for customer-firm interactions. However, human-robot interaction is not a ground zero. Other fields, such as human-computer interaction (HCI) and psychology have amassed a wealth of empirical findings that can inform service research and provide a head-start in successfully designing the future of service interactions. To this end, the underlying paper reports a systematic literature review across academic disciplines, evaluating more than 10,000 research articles. Through a rigorous, iterative coding process, 175 articles with direct implications for service interactions are identified. On the basis of this dataset a comprehensive framework and a future research agenda on service robots in the organizational frontline in different service contexts are developed. Service researchers and managers benefit by understanding when and how to implement various types of social robots in different service settings and what relationships still need to be investigated.