Adrienne Foos

Consumer perceptions of Interactive Service Robots: A Value-Dominant Logic perspective

We propose a “Value-Dominant Logic” approach to complement HRI research by integrating two well-known user-centric methodologies from the field of marketing. From the results of laddering interviews accompanied by a visual projective technique we show that consumer value perceptions of robots in a retail service environment are of a paradoxical nature where behavioral and social norms are expected of the robot, yet not for the user. Our consumer oriented value-based approach can contribute to the field of HRI by providing a complementary means of user-centered design/ methodology/requirements gathering and additional multidisciplinary collaborations.

Impact bias in student evaluations of higher education

In the context of higher education, this study examines the extent to which affective evaluations of the student experience are influenced by the point at which they are made (i.e. before the experience begins, whilst it is happening and after it has ended). It adopts a between-groups quantitative analysis of the affective evaluations made by 360 future, current and past postgraduate students of a UK business school. The study validates the proposition that affective forecasts and memories of the student experience are considerably inflated in prospect and retrospect; a finding that implies a significant impact bias. It is concluded that the impact bias may have important implications for influencing the effectiveness of student decision-making, the timing and comparability of student course evaluations, and understanding the nature and effects of word-of-mouth communication regarding the student experience.

“Redressing the Sleeper Effect: Evidence for the Favorable Persuasive Impact of Discounting Information Over Time in a Contemporary Advertising Context,”

The shift in the accessibility of positive and negative information about consumer products on the Internet calls for a revisiting of persuasion effects. A counterintuitive effect, called the sleeper effect, predicts that attitudes toward a persuasive message have the potential to increase in favorableness despite the presence of information discounting the message. An experimental study was conducted to support the existence of the sleeper effect, demonstrate its renewed relevance in the contemporary advertising environment, and provide a foundation for further sleeper effect studies.

Re-examining Value Co-creation in the Age of Interactive Service Robots

With robots increasingly considered as viable service agents, marketers must explore the nature of value co-creation during service interactions and the consequences for the wider nature of relationships between service providers and customers. This study investigates the nature of the direct interaction between humans and robots and the implications for value co-creation. The aim is to reveal the underlying structures that influence user opinions of robot roles and value-in-use, and so inform the debate on social implications of robot service. Such insights will create awareness for the changing nature of service encounters and help marketers promote positive interactions.

Source Misattribution for the Sake of Attitude Change: A Conceptualization of the Role of Social Identity in Inducing Dissociative Processing

There is a phenomenon recurrently noted in the persuasion literature, called the sleeper effect, in which there is a greater ‘delayed’ than ‘initial’ impact on attitudes of a persuasive message in the presence of a discounting cue (Hovland & Weiss 1951; Gruder et al. 1978; Pratkanis et al. 1988). A hypothesized mechanism accounting for the sleeper effect that is debated in the literature is dissociation; where the association between the discounting cue and the message content become separated in memory over time (Kumkale & Albarracin 2004). Despite finding the sleeper effect in several studies (Gruder et al. 1978; Pratkanis et al 1988; Mazursky & Schul 1988), the mechanisms underlying the process of increased attitude change over time have yet to be fully conceptualized and conclusively tested. A similar effect is hypothesized in social influence literature, called social cryptomnesia; whereby the negative source identity comparison and the validation of message content are dissociated (Perez et al. 1995). The result is said to be conversion, or latent and internalized attitude change (Van Avermaet 2001). Although never empirically tested, social cryptomnesia provides an additional theoretical level to the sleeper effect by suggesting aspects from social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner 1979), such as ingroup favoritism and outgroup discrimination, as potential explanations for dissociation. The aim of this study is to further conceptualize and empirically test the proposed mechanisms underlying increased persuasion over time. Planned future experimentation will investigate the roles of potential mediators and moderators of the effect, including inter group bias and information processing. The study is important, because the internalized attitude change characteristic of this process is more persistent (Moscovici 1985), and persistent attitude change is more predictive of behavior (Petty & Cacioppo 1986). The study is expected to have broad theoretical implications, as well as practical implications for interventions involving marketing communications.

Fashionable Food: When the Sleeper Effect Turns Negative Information into Positive Attitudes

Marketers promoting new products online are often faced with the ubiquity of information discounting their marketing messages (e.g. critical responses). However, the counterintuitive sleeper effect posits that negative information can positively impact attitudes under certain conditions (Gruder et al. 1978). Elaborative encoding is expected to modify the sleeper effect by enhancing the persuasiveness of marketing messages accompanied by discounting cues (Mazursky and Schul 1988). The current study investigates the conditions necessary for negative information to have a positive impact on attitudes.