To enhance human–robot collaboration and bolster sustainable human–robot relationships, researchers and designers have extensively investigated the effectiveness of trust repair strategies following robotic failures. Focusing on sociocultural factors in repair effectiveness, the current study examined cross-national differences in responses to three categories of robotic failures (logic, semantic, and syntax) and four types of trust repair strategies (internal-attribution apology, external-attribution apology, denial, and no repair). We compared trust repair effectiveness across a U.S. and South Korean sample, given their distinct history of technology usage and sociocultural norms regarding trust repairs. Additionally, the study explored four dimensions of blame attribution (locus, stability, external controllability, and personal controllability) as potential mediating mechanisms. Analyses of 743 observations from 330 American participants and 1,027 observations from 368 Korean participants underscored the importance of culturally adaptive robotics. Findings revealed that robotic failures across all categories had unexpectedly more negative impacts on Korean participants, accompanied by less benevolent attribution. While general repair outcomes were similar across nations, syntax failures highlighted notable differences. For Korean participants, internal-attribution apologies significantly outperformed denial, aligning with sociocultural norms. However, external-attribution apologies did not yield better outcomes for Koreans compared to Americans, diverging from interpersonal trust repair patterns. These results highlight a design challenge posed by two positive mediators of trust attitude, external and personal controllability.

This study investigated the impact of task types (functional vs. social) and the gendered voices (female vs. male) of Siri, an intelligent virtual assistant (IVA), on social presence and trust perceptions toward the IVA.In an online experiment involving 172 participants, individuals were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, interacting with Siri on their iPhones for various task inquiries.Results from multivariate analyses of covariances revealed significant differences in trust levels based on the type of task.Trust was found to be higher for functional tasks when assisted by Siri, compared to social tasks.However, there was no significant difference in trust based on Siri's gendered voices.Post-hoc analyses indicated significant interactions between the gender match of participants and Siri's gendered voices in two dimensions of trust.Men tended to trust the male-voiced Siri more than the femalevoiced Siri, while women did not exhibit a preference for the female voice over the male voice.This study successfully replicated the task effect observed in prior research but did not replicate the gender effect.Key distinctions between the current study and previous ones include language and the participants' nationality, with this study focusing on Korean participants interacting with Korean Siri.

A theoretical model of trust in human-machine communication (HMC) was tested and emotional experience and social presence were evaluated during an interaction with an intelligent virtual agent (IVA), Siri. A two (‘American female’ or ‘American male’ Siri) by two (functional or social task) experiment was conducted with 229 subjects with random assignments. According to multivariate analyses of covariances, participants reported higher levels of emotional significance when they interacted with Siri to inquire about functional tasks. No gender or interaction effects between gender and task were detected. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modelling indicated that both social presence and emotional experience were directly and positively associated with five dimensions of trust (i.e. perceived reliability, technical competence, perceived understandability, faith, and personal attachment) in Siri. This direct effect model was significant after controlling for the effects of task type. Additionally, a test of the mediation model indicated full mediation between emotional experiences and trust by social presence.