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Cited by 388AI in Service InteractionsCustomer Service Quality and LoyaltyDigital Marketing and Social Media

Engaging and retaining customers with AI and employee service

Open access
Prentice, Catherine, Nguyen, Mai·2020·Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
DOI 10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102186PMC PMC7306747
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Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) permeates in service organisations as a tool to enhance operational efficiency and improve customer experience. Reports show that most consumers prefer human interactions with service employees. Drawing on this observation, the current study examines how customers' service experiences with employees and AI influence customer engagement and loyalty. Customers’ emotional intelligence is proposed as a moderator between service experience and customer engagement. The study was conducted with hotel customers in Australia. The results show that whilst both service experience with employees and AI are significantly related to customer engagement and loyalty, only certain dimensions make significant unique variances in the outcome variables. The findings indicate that customers prefer employee service. These service experiences also have significant partial mediation effects on customer loyalty. Emotional intelligence has a significant moderation effect on customer engagement. Discussion of these findings and implications derived from this study concludes this paper.

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  • Employees are inspired by the performance of AI in effectively handling communicative interactions with customers, thereby improving their own communication performance.

    “This often leads to employees being inspired by the performance of AI in effectively handling communicative interactions with customers, thereby also improving their own communication performance (Prentice & Nguyen, 2020).”

    From The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Workers' Skills: Upskilling and Reskilling in Organisations (2023) · cites this paper as Prentice & Nguyen, 2020

    The Discussion sections on service experience and emotional intelligence describe limits of AI responses and customers’ preference for employee interactions. Searches for employees being inspired by AI or learning from its customer communications found no passage addressing whether AI improves employees’ communication performance. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Prentice, C., & Nguyen, M.
Affiliations
Griffith University (AU)
Corresponding author
Prentice, Catherine
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-09
Volume
56
Pages
102186
ISSN
0969-6989 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102186
PMC
PMC7306747
OpenAlex
W3036356806
Cited by
388
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 59 · 2025: 95 · 2024: 90 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 5
FWCI
14.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › AI in Service Interactions
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
Keywords
artificial intelligence in services, customer engagement, customer loyalty, emotional intelligence, service experience, hotel guests, mediating effect, moderating effect

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