From automats to algorithms: the automation of services using artificial intelligence
ISSN: 1757-5818
Article publication date: 31 March 2020
Issue publication date: 24 September 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to fill this gap by positing a framework that considers the service automation decision as a matter of knowledge management: a choice between human resident and codified knowledge assets.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a conceptual paper, grounded in the knowledge-based view.
Findings
The paper uses the information processing theory, which argues that the level of uncertainty in a process should dictate the type of knowledge deployed, as the contingency for the automation choice, and customer interaction uncertainty as the driver of that contingency. From these ideas, propositions are generated relating customer interaction uncertainty and service automation. Further implications for artificial intelligence (AI) are also explored.
Originality/value
The framework illuminates and informs the strategic choices regarding service automation, including the use of AI in professional services, a timely and highly important topic. It offers a valuable model for practitioners and contributes to the academic literature by pointing the way for future directions for scholarly research.
Keywords
Citation
Meyer, C., Cohen, D. and Nair, S. (2020), "From automats to algorithms: the automation of services using artificial intelligence", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 145-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2019-0161
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited