Do Service Robots Impair Consumer Fairness Perceptions of a Price Increase?

Service robots are increasingly employed by service providers to greet customers, deliver food, or mix cocktails. While extant research has accumulated some insights on drivers of consumer acceptance, this study adopts a behavioral pricing perspective on the topic. The result of a randomized experiment indicates that consumers perceive a restaurant`s unexpected price increase as less fair if a service robot is present (vs. absent). In contrast to expectations, this effect did not depend on the positioning of the restaurant as price-leader or quality-leader. Price fairness mediated the effect of robot on repurchase intentions, suggesting important implications for pricing.