Artificial Intelligence and Corporate Customer Stability: Evidence from Industrial Robot Adoption in China

Abstract

Driven by the initiatives of data-driven intelligence empowerment, robots and artificial intelligence (AI) technology profoundly influence economic and social development. China is the world’s largest market for robot adoption. This makes the impact of its industrial robot use on supply chains an important and urgent issue to explore. This paper uses Chinese A-share manufacturing listed firms from 2011 to 2019 to investigate the impact of industrial robot adoption at the enterprise level on customer stability. The empirical results indicate that an increase in the scale of industrial robot adoption will significantly improve the stability of enterprise customers. Mechanism testing shows that industrial robot adoption mainly enhances customer stability through the “technological progress effect” and “risk governance effect.” Additionally, the heterogeneity analysis finds that the positive effect of industrial robot adoption on customer stability becomes more potent for firms that are capital-intensive, less digitally transformed, non-state-owned, and trading with younger customers. Finally, applying industrial robots is conducive to adding firm value by strengthening customer stability. This paper enriches the relevant literature on the empowerment of the digital economy and customer governance to some extent. The research also provides a reference for popularizing the adoption of AI technology in enterprises and promoting the high-quality development of supply chains.

Keywords

industrial robots / customer stability / artificial intelligence (AI) / technological progress / customer relationship

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Higher Education Press