Social robots as healing aids: How and why powerlessness influences the intention to adopt social robots

Adapting the design and configuration of robots to human social needs is a challenge for the future. Individuals may be caught in social structures in which they feel dominated, which triggers their need to regain a sense of power. Feeling powerless is painful and leads consumers to compensatory consumption behaviour. We seek to ascertain whether powerless consumers may view social robots as a way of improving their well-being. In Study 1, we used an online scenario-based experiment to manipulate robot autonomy through a comic strip panel. Results show that powerlessness increases the anticipated improvement of well-being associated with robot ownership and thus the adoption intention, but only when the robot has a low (vs. high) level of autonomy. In Study 2, an online survey was conducted to understand better the psychological mechanism underlying these effects. The results reveal that powerlessness positively influences the anticipated improvement of well-being because the consumers perceive an enhancement of their sense of power induced by the domination exerted over the robot. Study 3 replicated the central findings on a larger and more diverse sample. Further, it suggests that robot autonomy and age play crucial roles in understanding the mechanism underlying the effects. Our research contributes to the literature on human-robot interaction, psychological power, and compensatory consumption. We also contribute to an emerging body of research investigating how intelligent products (social robots) can change people's lives in unexpected ways.