Artificial Intelligence, Emotional Labor, and Service Operations

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2024.1459

References

  • Altman D, Yom-Tov GB, Olivares M, Ashtar S, Rafaeli A (2021) Do customer emotions affect agent speed? An empirical study of emotional load in online customer contact centers. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 23(4):854–875.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Ashforth BE, Humphrey RH (1993) Emotional labor in service roles: The influence of identity. Acad. Management Rev. 18:88–115. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bai B, Dai H, Zhang DJ, Zhang F, Hu H (2022) The impacts of algorithmic work assignment on fairness perceptions and productivity: Evidence from field experiments. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 24(6):3060–3078.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Barger PB, Grandey AA (2006) Service with a smile and encounter satisfaction: Emotional contagion and appraisal mechanisms. Acad. Management J. 49(6):1229–1238.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Braga B, Mckernan S, Ratcliffe C, Theodos B, Chalekian J, Trepel C (2019) Local conditions and debt in collections. J. Consumer Affairs 53(4):2058–2085.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Brotheridge CM, Grandey AA (2002) Emotional labor and burnout: Comparing two perspectives of “people work.” J. Vocational Behav. 60(1):17–39.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bursztyn L, Fiorin S, Gottlieb D, Kanz M (2019) Moral incentives in credit card debt repayment: Evidence from a field experiment. J. Political Econom. 127(4):1641–1683.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Castelo N, Bos MW, Lehmann DR (2019) Task-dependent algorithm aversion. J. Marketing Res. 56(5):809–825.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cohen JB, Pham MT, Andrade EB (2015) The nature and role of affect in consumer behavior. Haugtvedt CP, Herr PM, Kardes FR, eds. Handbook of Consumer Psychology (Psychology Press, New York), 297–348.Google Scholar
  • Cramer H, Goddijn J, Wielinga B, Evers V (2010) Effects of (in)accurate empathy and situational valence on attitudes towards robots. 2010 5th ACM/IEEE Internat. Conf. Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) (IEEE, New York), 141–142. Google Scholar
  • Creed C, Beale R, Cowan B (2015) The impact of an embodied agent’s emotional expressions over multiple interactions. Interacting Comput. 27(2):172–188.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cui R, Li M, Zhang S (2022) AI and procurement. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 24(2):691–706.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Dietvorst BJ, Simmons JP, Massey C (2015) Algorithm aversion: People erroneously avoid algorithms after seeing them err. J. Experiment. Psych. General 144(1):114–126.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Frese M, Keith N (2015) Action errors, error management, and learning in organizations. Annual Rev. Psych. 66:661–687.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gabriel AS, Diefendorff JM (2015) Emotional labor dynamics: A momentary approach. Acad. Management J. 58(6):1804–1825.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Global Market Insights Inc. (2025) Emotion AI market size, 2025-2034 trends report. Accessed May 26, 2025, https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/emotion-ai-market.Google Scholar
  • Grandey AA (2003) When “the show must go on”: Surface acting and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery. Acad. Management J. 46(1):86–96.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Grandey AA, Diefendorff JM, Rupp DE (2013) Emotional Labor in the 21st Century: Diverse Perspectives on Emotion Regulation at Work (Routledge, New York).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gregor S, Lin ACH, Gedeon T, Riaz A, Zhu D (2014) Neuroscience and a nomological network for the understanding and assessment of emotions in information systems research. J. Management Inform. Systems 30(4):13–48.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Han E, Yin D, Zhang H (2022) Bots with feelings: Should AI agents express positive emotion in customer service? Inform. Systems Res. 34(3):1296–1311.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Hennig-Thurau T, Groth M, Paul M, Gremier DD (2006) Are all smiles created equal? How emotional contagion and emotional labor affect service relationships. J. Marketing 70(3):58–73.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hochschild AR (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA).Google Scholar
  • Hou T, Li M, Tan YR, Zhao H (2024) Physician Adoption of AI Assistant. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 26(5):1639–1655.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Jaarsveld DV, Poster WR (2013) Call centers: Emotional labor over the phone. Grandey A, Diefendorff J, Rupp DE eds. Emotional Labor in the 21st Century (Routledge, New York), 153–173.Google Scholar
  • Jia N, Luo X, Fang Z, Liao C (2024) When and how artificial intelligence augments employee creativity. Acad. Management J. 67(1):5–32.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Karras T, Laine S, Aila T (2021) A style-based generator architecture for generative adversarial networks. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intelligence 43(12):4217–4228.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kim H, Murthy NN, Agarwal A, Park K (2025) Protecting workers from rude customers to enhance organizational identification in emotional labor environments: A study with call center agents. Production Oper. Management 34(10):3250–3266.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kleber S (2018) 3 ways AI is getting more emotional. Harvard Business Review (July 31), https://hbr.org/2018/07/3-ways-ai-is-getting-more-emotional.Google Scholar
  • Kolenik T, Schiepek G, Gams M (2024) Computational psychotherapy system for mental health prediction and behavior change with a conversational agent. Neuropsychiatric Disease Treatment 20:2465–2498.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lee N, Kim J, Kim E, Kwon O (2017) The influence of politeness behavior on user compliance with social robots in a healthcare service setting. Internat. J. Soc. Robotics 9(5):727–743.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Li M, Li T (2022) AI automation and retailer regret in supply chains. Production Oper. Management 31(1):83–97.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lisetti C, Amini R, Yasavur U, Rishe N (2013) I can help you change! An empathic virtual agent delivers behavior change health interventions. ACM Trans. Management Inform. Systems 4(4):1–28.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Logg JM, Minson JA, Moore DA (2019) Algorithm appreciation: People prefer algorithmic to human judgment. Organ. Behav. Human Decision Processes 151:90–103.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lu T, Lu X, Yang H, Zhang P (2024) Being emotionally supportive: Exploring the value of emotional appeals retargeting in recovering consumers of financial services. Production Oper. Management 33(1):166–183.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Luo B, Lau RYK, Li C (2023) Emotion-regulatory chatbots for enhancing consumer servicing: An interpersonal emotion management approach. Inform. Management 60(5):103794.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Luo X, Qin S, Fang Z, Qu Z (2021) Artificial intelligence coach for sales agents: Caveats and solutions. J. Marketing 85(2):14–32.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Luo X, Tong S, Fang Z, Qu Z (2019) Frontiers: Machines vs. humans: The impact of artificial intelligence chatbot disclosure on customer purchases. Marketing Sci. 38(6):937–947.AbstractGoogle Scholar
  • Luo X, Wang L, Wu Q, Moriguchi T (2025) From stopping to shopping: A field experiment on free shipping and free return retargeting policies in online retail operations. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 27(4):993–133.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Mahmud H, Islam AKMN, Luo XR, Mikalef P (2024) Decoding algorithm appreciation: Unveiling the impact of familiarity with algorithms, tasks, and algorithm performance. Decision Support Systems 179:114168.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Morris AJ, Feldman DC (1996) The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor. Acad. Management Rev. 21(4):986–1010.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pardes A (2018) The emotional chatbots are here to probe our feelings. Wired Online (January 31), https://www.wired.com/story/replika-open-source/.Google Scholar
  • Pei G, Li H, Lu Y, Wang Y, Hua S, Li T (2024) Affective computing: Recent advances, challenges, and future trends. Intelligent Comput. 3:0076.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pietroni D, Van Kleef GA, De Dreu CKW, Pagliaro S (2008) Emotions as strategic information: Effects of other’s emotional expressions on fixed-pie perception, demands, and integrative behavior in negotiation. J. Experiment. Soc. Psych. 44(6):1444–1454.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pugh SD (2001) Service with a smile: Emotional contagion in the service encounter. Acad. Management J. 44(5):1018–1027.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Rafaeli A, Sutton RI (1987) Expression of emotion as part of the work role. Acad. Management Rev. 12(1):23–37.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Rafaeli A, Sutton RI (1989) The expression of emotion in organizational life. Res. Organ. Behav. 11(1):1–42.Google Scholar
  • Rafaeli A, Sutton RI (1991) Emotional contrast strategies as means of social influence: Lessons from criminal interrogators and bill collectors. Acad. Management J. 34(4):749–775.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ramesh A (2019) The advancement of emotional intelligence in chatbots. Accessed October 9, 2019, https://discover.bot/bot-talk/emotion-ai-chatbots/.Google Scholar
  • Seaborn K, Miyake NP, Pennefather P, Otake-Matsuura M (2021) Voice in human–agent interaction. ACM Comput. Surveys 54(4):1–43.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sinaceur M, Tiedens LZ (2006) Get mad and get more than even: When and why anger expression is effective in negotiations. J. Experiment. Soc. Psych. 42(3):314–322.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Somers M (2019) Emotion AI, explained. MIT Sloan. Accessed February 12, 2021, https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/emotion-ai-explained.Google Scholar
  • Spring M, Faulconbridge J, Sarwar A (2022) How information technology automates and augments processes: Insights from artificial‐intelligence‐based systems in professional service operations. J. Oper. Management 68(6–7):592–618.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sun J, Zhang DJ, Hu H, Van Mieghem JA (2022) Predicting human discretion to adjust algorithmic prescription: A large-scale field experiment in warehouse operations. Management Sci. 68(2):846–865.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Sutton RI (1991) Maintaining norms about expressed emotions: The case of bill collectors. Admin. Sci. Quart. 36(2):245–268.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tong S, Jia N, Luo X, Fang Z (2021) The Janus face of artificial intelligence feedback: Deployment versus disclosure effects on employee performance. Strategic Management J. 42(9):1600–1631.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Torre I, Goslin J, White L (2020) If your device could smile: People trust happy-sounding artificial agents more. Comput. Human Behav. 105(C):106215.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tsai WC (2001) Determinants and consequences of employee displayed positive emotions. J. Management 27(4):497–512.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Van Kleef GA, Homan AC, Cheshin A (2012) Emotional influence at work: Take it EASI. Organ. Psych. Rev. 2(4):311–339.Google Scholar
  • Wager S, Athey S (2018) Estimation and inference of heterogeneous treatment effects using random forests. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 113(523):1228–1242. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wang X, Jiang M, Han W, Qiu L (2022) Do emotions sell? The impact of emotional expressions on sales in the space‐sharing economy. Production Oper. Management 31(1):65–82.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wang L, Huang N, Hong Y, Liu L, Guo X, Chen G (2023) Voice‐based AI in call center customer service: A natural field experiment. Production Oper. Management 32(4):1002–1018.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Xiao L, Ding M (2014) Just the faces: Exploring the effects of facial features in print advertising. Marketing Sci. 33(3):338–352.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Yagil D, Medler-Liraz H (2017) Personally committed to emotional labor: Surface acting, emotional exhaustion and performance among service employees with a strong need to belong. J. Occupational Health Psych. 22(4):481–491.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • You S, Yang CL, Li X (2022) Algorithmic versus human advice: Does presenting prediction performance matter for algorithm appreciation? J. Management Inform. Systems 39(2):336–365.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Zhang Z, Li B, Liu L (2022) The impact of AI-based conversational agent on the firms’ operational performance: Empirical evidence from a call center. Appl. Artificial Intelligence 37(1):2157592.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Zhou K, Sisman B, Liu R, Li H (2022) Emotional voice conversion: Theory, databases and ESD. Speech Comm. 137:1–18.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.