THE EFFECT OF SCRIPT CHANGE ON CONSUMERS’ ACCEPTANCE OF AUTOMATED FRONTLINE SERVICE ENCOUNTERS
pp.546-550
Automation of frontline service encounters, or the replacement of frontline employees by technologies, is increasingly more common. This new service style, often called self- service, has attracted the attention of service providers who are looking to cut costs (Lin & Hsieh, 2007; Walker et al., 2002) and increase efficiency (Bitner et al., 2002; Curran et al., 2003; Dabholkar, 1996). On the other hand, a major disadvantage of self-service is that it puts the burden of service delivery on consumers (Lu et al., 2019). In other words, the introduction of self-service means a shift from consumers being served by frontline employees to their serving themselves by interacting with technologies. This means that consumers’ acceptance is key for self-service to be implemented successfully.