Comfort with social robots in the pre-interaction phase: a field experiment with customers of a retail bank

This study aims to investigate the influence of two interaction designs
on user comfort and intention to use during pre-interaction phase. As part of a
field experiment in a retail bank, a proactive and a passive interaction design of
a social robot were compared. A standardized questionnaire was used to determine
how the interaction design affects the comfort, trust and usage intention of
customers and what role trust plays as a mediating factor. The data analysis shows
that the proactive design was rated better in terms of psychological comfort and
emotional value, but not in terms of trust and intention to use. Comfort with robots
positively influenced the intention to use the social robot, with trust serving
as a key mediator; in the proactive variant, the effect was only indirect via trust,
while in the passive variant, both direct and indirect effects were observed. According
to dual processing theory, proactive designs rely on automatic, emotiondriven
processes that directly influence comfort, while passive designs encourage
reflective decision-making, supporting trust and increasing usage intention despite
lower comfort. A balanced integration of both approaches can enhance customer
comfort and trust, facilitating the successful adoption of social robots in
retail.