Home-Tutoring Services Assisted with Technology: Investigating the Role of Artificial Intelligence Using a Randomized Field Experiment

Jun Hyung Kim, Minki Kim, Do Won Kwak, Sol Lee

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    37 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Despite a rising interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, research in services marketing has not evaluated its role in helping firms learn about customers’ needs and increasing the adaptability of service employees. Therefore, the authors develop a conceptual framework and investigate whether and to what extent providing AI assistance to service employees improves service outcomes. The randomized controlled trial in the context of tutoring services shows that helping service employees (tutors) adapt to students’ learning needs by providing AI-generated diagnoses significantly improves service outcomes measured by academic performance. However, the authors find that some tutors may not utilize AI assistance (i.e., AI aversion), and factors associated with unforeseen barriers to usage (i.e., technology overload) can moderate its impact on outcomes. Interestingly, tutors who significantly contribute to the firm's revenue relied heavily on AI assistance but unexpectedly benefited little from AI in improving service outcomes. Given the wide applicability of AI assistance in a variety of services marketing contexts, the authors suggest that firms should consider the potential difficulties employees face in using the technology rather than encourage them to use it as it is.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)79-96
    Number of pages18
    JournalJournal of Marketing Research
    Volume59
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2022 Feb

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by the 111 Project of China (No. B18026) awarded to the first author and by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2021R1A6A1A14045741 and NRF-2018S1A5A2A03037147) awarded to the second and the third authors, respectively.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © American Marketing Association 2021.

    Keywords

    • AI aversion
    • artificial intelligence
    • field experiment
    • one-on-one tutoring services
    • technology overload

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Business and International Management
    • Economics and Econometrics
    • Marketing

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