Empathy-by-Design: Designing Human-Centered Models for AI-Enhanced Service

About the Project

Automation can increase speed and efficiency, but it can also weaken human connection, trust, and customer satisfaction. This DBA research opportunity focuses on the design of human-centered service models that integrate AI while preserving empathy, trust, and meaningful customer engagement.

Possible research directions include AI-enhanced service design, customer trust, behavioral science in automated interactions, human-AI collaboration, service recovery, emotional experience, and the role of empathy in technology-enabled business models.

This opportunity is especially relevant for experienced professionals in retail, banking, hospitality, healthcare, customer experience, marketing, service operations, or digital transformation. Candidates may design an empathy-first service protocol, socially aware AI service model, or customer trust framework.

The expected contribution is a practical artefact that helps organizations use AI to strengthen, rather than replace, the human dimensions of service and relationship-building.