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The main objective of this chapter is broadening the understanding of anthropomorphic artificial intelligence (AI) (e.g. avatars, humanoid robots, chatbots) in both physical and digital environments. The chapter strives to demonstrate how organisations can curate relationship marketing and enhance customer experience by employing anthropomorphic AI. To achieve this, the chapter extends existing understanding in three ways. First, it explains the interconnectivity between relationship marketing and customer experience. Second, it presents anthropomorphic AI along with its different characteristics and technologies. Third, it offers some real-life uses cases and examples of such AI drawing from practical insights into five selected industries. Overall, the chapter provides some food of thoughts concerning the successful application and deployment of anthropomorphic AI in marketing practices.

Voice command and voice search are becoming increasingly popular in the hospitality and tourism industry, with many hotels and travel companies investing in voice-enabled technology to improve guest experiences and streamline operations. This technology allows travellers to manage their travel plans, request services and get information through natural voice commands on any voice-enabled device. Voice assistants are also multilingual, allowing hotels to customise responses to guests who do not speak the local language. Angie, a multilingual, in-room voice assistant, is an example of this technology. It can fulfil guest requests, answer common questions about the property and create streamlined access to a wide range of hotel amenities, such as ordering room service or requesting extra towels. Hotels can control questions and responses to assist stretched staff and provide upsell and advertising revenue through digital promotions or recommended onsite amenities or discounts. In addition, voice command technology can be used to book travel and find things to do at a destination. Google Assistant can help with travel plans like booking a hotel, checking flight status and finding things to do at a destination. In conclusion, voice command and voice search technology are transforming the hospitality and tourism industry by improving guest experiences, reducing operational costs and increasing revenue.

The research aims to understand how smart speakers are perceived by their actual and potential users, their attitude towards smart speakers and consequently their intention to use them.

The authors apply a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to test the research hypotheses through data coming from a structured questionnaire.

The results show that the higher the importance attributed to usefulness and ease of use, the higher the positive attitude that in turn positively affects the intention to use smart speakers. A significant relationship also emerged between task technology fit and attitude towards smart speakers, as well as between perceived enjoyment and attitude towards smart speakers. Perceived privacy risk, innovativeness and social attraction have been found to not significantly impact attitudes towards smart speakers.

Although several academic studies have focused on various aspects of smart technologies, only a few studies discuss the factors that push consumers to use smart speakers for activities related to commercial transactions. Therefore, looking at the rapid rise of smart speakers for daily tasks and the gradual acceptance of voice interaction with digital tools, the authors proposed a study about Italian users' intention to use smart speakers. Specifically, to fill the gap in the existing literature, the authors applied a SEM approach to identify utilitarian and hedonic benefits that motivate the use of these devices.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to review and critically evaluate robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) applications in the restaurant industry to educate professors, graduate students, and industry professionals.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter is a survey of applications of RAISA in restaurants. The chapter is based on the review of professional and peer-reviewed academic literature, and the industry insight section was prepared based on a 50-minute interview with Mr. Juan Higueros, Chief Operations Officer of Bear Robotics.

Findings: Various case studies presented in this chapter illustrate numerous possibilities for automation: from automating a specific function to complete automation of the front of the house (e.g., Eatsa) or back of the house (e.g., Spyce robotic kitchen). The restaurant industry has already adopted chatbots; voice-activated and biometric technologies; robots as hosts, food runners, chefs, and bartenders; tableside ordering; conveyors; and robotic food delivery.

Practical implications: The chapter presents professors and students with a detailed overview of RAISA in the restaurant industry that will be useful for educational and research purposes. Restaurant owners and managers may also benefit from reading this chapter as they will learn about the current state of technology and opportunities for RAISA implementation.

Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this chapter presents the first systematic and in-depth review of RAISA technologies in the restaurant industry.

Innovative firms have rapidly developed artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into their service ecosystems, essentially changing perceptions of what is service quality and service delivery in their respective industries. Nonetheless, the issues surrounding AI services remain relatively unknown. The purpose for this paper is to offer a digital servitization framework for understanding how AI services impact value perceptions, consumer engagement and firm performance measures. The authors use the financial service ecosystem to explore this topic.

The authors explore relevant literature on digital servitization, service-dominant logic and AI/disruptive innovation. Next, a conceptual framework, organized by AI-Service Exchange Antecedents, Context of AI Usage and Digital Servitization Consequences, is developed. The authors conceptualize consequences for consumers and firms.

The main findings suggest that the linkages between consumers, financial institutions and fintech companies with AI usage in a service ecosystem should be identified; how value is created among multiple SD Logic-AI network actors should be analyzed; and the effects of AI-consumer interactions (lower-level and higher levels of engagement) on firm performance measures should be explored.

The conceptual framework identifies gaps in the literature and suggests research questions for future studies.

This paper may assist practitioners with the development of AI-enabled banking activities that involve direct consumer engagement.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this research agenda is the first comprehensive framework for understanding value co-creation in the context of AI in financial services, linking antecedents, usage and consequences.

The study aims to integrate the insights gained from the gambling industry into a value creation conceptual framework for analyzing the influence of digital technology application. Both primary and secondary data from industry practitioners are examined and discussed.

In-depth interviews covering top management from six major casinos in Macau were conducted with industry experts, who provided the pioneering feedback on digitalization technology implemented with examples from major casino cities, including Macau, Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, Singapore, Seoul and some others.

The study provides an overview of the current status of the application of digital technology in the gambling industry and the level of the feasibility, practicability and profitability of this development on the casino floor. Digital technologies are found to augment the gambling industry in aspects of the product, service and operational structure. Research also discovers that benefits and values gained by the casino can be categorized in three dimensions: (1) value perceived by the customer, (2) value obtained from the customer and (3) value gained by the firm.

The research serves as a reference for Macau policymakers regarding regulations on emerging digital technologies in the gambling industry, as well as for casino management seeking to understand new potential business opportunities and future developments in digitalization.

Based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study revisits public relations (PR) and marketing practitioners' perceptions of PR function and its relationship with marketing function in the digital context.

An online survey targeting 234 PR and marketing practitioners was first conducted, followed by a total of 27 in-depth interviews with PR and marketing practitioners.

Results from the two phases of analysis show that both PR and marketing practitioners perceive market functions as sales-oriented, whereas media relations is interpreted as more of a PR function. Content marketing and influencer marketing via digital communication channels help to enhance the convergence of PR and marketing functions. PR and marketing practitioners believe that PR and marketing functions are integrative, and they are willing to work flexibly for both functions within workplaces.

This study presents a continuum of PR and marketing functions in the digital era that illustrates the role of digital communication in the convergence of PR and marketing functions. The results help to advance the theoretical discussion on both the functional (excellent PR practices and relationship management) and critical (the social role of PR in the participatory culture) approaches of PR in the digital context. Managerial implications are also discussed in addition to the theoretical contributions.

Service research offering a view of both the dark and bright sides of smart technology remains scarce. This paper embraces a critical perspective and examines the conflicting outcomes of smart services on the customer experience (CX), with a specific focus on chatbots.

This study uses empirical research methods to examine a single case study where an online retail service provider implemented a chatbot for customer service. Using discourse analysis, we analysed 7,167 conversations between customers and the chatbot over a two-year period.

The analysis identifies seven general themes related to the effects of the chatbot on CX: interaction quality, information gathering, procedure literacy, task achievement, digital trust, shopping stress and shopping journey. We illuminate both positive (i.e. having a pleasant interaction, providing information, knowing procedures, improving tasks, increasing trust, reducing stress and completing the journey) and negative outcomes (i.e. having an unpleasant interaction, increasing confusion, ignoring procedures, worsening tasks, reducing trust, increasing stress and abandoning the journey).

The paper develops a comprehensive framework to offer a clearer view of chatbots as smart services in customer care. It delves into the conflicting effects of chatbots on CX by examining them through relational, cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions.