Rise of the Machines? Customer Engagement in Automated Service Interactions
这篇特刊编辑文章探讨了人工智能驱动的自动化服务互动中顾客参与的新现象，回顾了AI类型学（RPA、ML、DL），提出了整合性命题，并介绍了特刊论文，对服务研究者和管理者理解AI与顾客参与的交汇有重要参考价值。
Artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to spawn revolutionary transformational effects on service organizations, including by impacting the ways in which firms engage with their customers. In parallel, customer engagement (CE), which reflects customer interactions with brands, offerings, or firms, has risen to the top of many managers’ strategic wish lists in the last decade. However, despite literature-based advances made in both areas, AI and CE are largely investigated in isolation to date, yielding a paucity of insight into their interface. In response to this gap, this Special Issue offers a pioneering exploration of CE in automated or AI-based service interactions. Our editorial first reviews AI’s Industry 4.0 underpinnings, followed by an important AI typology that comprises robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) applications. We then offer a high-level synopsis of existing CE research, followed by the development of a set of integrative propositions of CE in automated service interactions. Next, we introduce the Special Issue papers, which feature particular RPA, ML, or DL applications. We conclude with an overview of further research avenues in this growing area, which has the potential to develop into a powerful service research substream in the coming years.