Anthropomorphism, acceptance and value co-creation with humanoid retail service robots: a moderated mediation model from cognitive and emotional trust perspective
Muhammad Zubair Tariq, Jing Song, Yingmei Xie · The International Review of Retail Distribution and Consumer Research · 2025
As artificial intelligence technologies gain momentum in retail, humanoid service robots are becoming pivotal in transforming customer engagement. This study examines how the anthropomorphic features of these robots influence customer trust (cognitive and emotional), acceptance, and willingness to co-create value, with customer service expertise as a moderating factor. Drawing on the Computers as Social Actors theory and Service-Dominant Logic, the research proposes and tests a dual-pathway trust model, highlighting distinct mechanisms that mediate the relationship between robot anthropomorphism and retail outcomes. Data from a cross-sectional survey of 399 Chinese retail customers were analysed using SmartPLS 4.1. Findings reveal that robot anthropomorphism enhances both cognitive and emotional trust, which in turn drive acceptance and value co-creation. Crucially, customer service expertise asymmetrically moderates these pathways, strengthening the indirect effect through cognitive trust while leaving the emotional trust pathway unmoderated. Theoretically, the study enriches CASA and S-D Logic by disentangling the roles of dual trust mechanisms and identifying expertise as a critical, asymmetric boundary condition that governs the efficacy of cognitive-based social cues. In practice, the findings provide insights for the strategic designing and implementation of humanoid service robots to build trust, improve engagement, and facilitate culturally and expertise-sensitive value co-creation in the AI-enabled retail environments.