Nguyen, Truong Van ThaoKleinmayer, Leonie Clara2025-09-082025-09-082025-06-24http://hdl.handle.net/10362/187666Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly embedded in customer service, and therefore it is crucial to understand its impact on consumer behavior. This thesis examines whether AI’s emotional neutrality can positively impact consumer responses in emotionally charged service interactions. Two experimental studies compare AI versus human service agents in shopping assistance and service failure recovery. Results show that while AI reduces feelings of judgment and affect-based decision-making, these effects do not increase purchase intention or customer forgiveness. These findings reveal the contextual limitations of AI, suggesting that emotional neutrality alone is not sufficient to generate favorable behavioral outcomes in service settings.engArtificial IntelligenceAI versus HumanFeeling of judgementPurchase intentionAffect-based decision-makingCustomer forgivenessEmotionally charged consumption contextmaster thesis