When products become autonomous: Drawbacks of a perceived lack of control and how to resolve it

Autonomous products are on the rise. Partly or fully autonomous products fulfill tasks and make decisions in more and more domains, where the consumer has previously executed actions manually. It is projected that 32.4 million units of autonomous products only for domestic tasks will be sold by 2020, representing a market value of $11.3 billion and a growth rate of 30-35% per year (Executive Summary World Robotics 2017). Therefore, the investigation of consumer perceptions of autonomous products is a research topic of growing importance (Schweitzer and van den Hende 2016). On the one hand, consumers might be attracted by an increased convenience and by the option to use the time saved to engage in different activities. On the other hand, they might reject autonomous products due to perceived disempowerment and lack of control (Schweitzer and van den Hende 2016) or higher perceived complexity and risk (Rijsdijk and Hultink 2003). The perception of having control appears to be particularly relevant in this regard, since being in control positively contributes to humans’ positive emotions and well-being (e.g., Langer 1975), whereas a lack of control induces negative feelings such as stress or even depression (Peterson and Stunkard 1992). Beyond (lack of) control, we propose “responsibility” for the outcome as an additional important factor for the perception of autonomous products. To understand post-consumption evaluations and reactions, the attribution of responsibility is particularly important (Weiner 2000). It has been shown that the valence of outcome has an important impact on the perception of responsibility (Bradley 1978; Kelley 1967; Miller and Ross 1975). Therefore, we differentiate between positive and negative outcomes obtained by an autonomous product. The relevance to investigate responsibility in case of negative outcomes obtained by an autonomous product is obvious. For example, in the context of healthcare, where autonomous products are already in place: Who feels responsible when a surgery-supporting robot or a robot to support care services coincidentally harms a person? It is important to note that legal and perceived responsibility can fall apart. Such incongruity can cause cognitive dissonance and a decrease of subjective well-being (Festinger 1957), which, in turn, might affect product adoption and customer experience (Anderson et al. 2013).