AI or manual customer service? Post-sale customer service strategy of EPSC considering consumers’ return behavior under different CRI modes

IF 6.3 3区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-26 DOI:10.1016/j.elerap.2026.101587

Yufei Wang , Fengmin Yao , FaXin Cheng , Yingluo Yan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Traditional customer service, once based on direct human interaction, is increasingly replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) interfaces, which are reshaping consumers’ post-sale experiences and merchants’ post-sale assurance mechanisms. This study examines how different service modes (manual vs. AI) interact with complimentary return-freight insurance (CRI) to determine post-sale outcomes within an e-commerce platform supply chain (EPSC). A Stackelberg game model is developed to analyze the strategic interactions between the platform and the merchant under four configurations (manual or AI customer service, with or without CRI), incorporating the emotional-void effect of AI customer service and the influence of manual compensation. The analytical results reveal that return convenience outweighs price sensitivity in stimulating demand, whereas excessive manual compensation reduces profits for all parties. Moreover, the merchant prefers manual customer service when CRI is available, but may switch to AI service once compensation becomes sufficiently high. Counterintuitively, the merchant is more likely to adopt CRI under the AI customer service mode. Unlike previous studies that exclusively focus on pre-sale AI applications, this research formalizes the post-sale emotional-void and compensation mechanisms, thereby extending technology-adoption theory and offering guidance for assurance policies in platform-governed supply chains.

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人工智能还是人工客服？考虑不同CRI模式下消费者退货行为的EPSC售后客服策略

传统的客户服务，曾经基于直接的人际互动，越来越多地被人工智能（AI）界面所取代，这正在重塑消费者的售后体验和商家的售后保障机制。本研究考察了不同的服务模式（人工与人工智能）如何与免费退货运费保险（CRI）相互作用，以确定电子商务平台供应链（EPSC）中的售后结果。建立Stackelberg博弈模型，分析平台与商家在人工客服、人工客服、有无CRI四种配置下的战略互动，同时考虑人工客服的情感空虚效应和人工补偿的影响。分析结果表明，在刺激需求方面，回报便利性优于价格敏感性，而过度的人工补偿会降低各方的利润。此外，当CRI可用时，商家更倾向于人工客服，但一旦补偿足够高，商家可能会转向人工智能服务。与直觉相反的是，在AI客服模式下，商家更有可能采用CRI。与以往专门关注售前AI应用的研究不同，本研究将售后情感缺失和补偿机制形式化，从而扩展了技术采用理论，并为平台治理供应链中的保证政策提供指导。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 工程技术-计算机：跨学科应用

CiteScore

10.10

自引率

8.30%

发文量

审稿时长

63 days

期刊介绍： Electronic Commerce Research and Applications aims to create and disseminate enduring knowledge for the fast-changing e-commerce environment. A major dilemma in e-commerce research is how to achieve a balance between the currency and the life span of knowledge. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications will contribute to the establishment of a research community to create the knowledge, technology, theory, and applications for the development of electronic commerce. This is targeted at the intersection of technological potential and business aims.