Service Robot Adoption in Hospitality: A Social Influence Perspective

Purpose This study aims to investigate human–robot interactions (HRI) in hospitality, examining how perceived intelligence, social presence and social interactivity influence customer attitudes, trust, rapport and revisit intentions in robotic service restaurants. Design/methodology/approach A purposive sampling method was used to explore customer perceptions of restaurant service robots. Data were collected via the Prolific platform through a structured questionnaire from 500 US restaurant customers. The study used partial least squares structural equation modeling to assess relationships between HRI attributes, trust, rapport and revisit intentions. Findings Service robots significantly influence customer experiences and revisit intentions by fostering perceived intelligence, social presence and interactivity. Trust and rapport emerge as key determinants of service robot acceptance. Positive HRI increase the likelihood of customers returning, demonstrating that robots can enhance operational efficiency while maintaining the emotional engagement necessary for customer retention. Practical implications Findings provide strategic insights for restaurant owners, managers and stakeholders integrating service robots. Enhancing social interaction and trust-building features can make robotic services more appealing. Restaurants should focus on advanced AI capabilities that personalize interactions, remember customer preferences and deliver emotionally engaging experiences. Originality/value This study contributes to hospitality and tourism literature by providing empirical evidence on service robots’ role in shaping customer behavior. It expands social exchange theory and the technology acceptance model by incorporating trust, rapport and social interactivity into customer–robot interactions. The findings offer practical guidance for improving service efficiency while ensuring a humanized robotic dining experience that meets evolving customer expectations.

PurposeRecent service studies suggest focusing on the service triad consisting of technology-customer-frontline employee (FLE). This study empirically investigates the role of service robots in this service triad, with the aim to understand the augmentation or substitution role of service robots in driving utilitarian and hedonic value and ultimately customer repatronage.Design/methodology/approachIn study 1, field data are collected from customers (n = 108) who interacted with a service robot and FLE in a fast casual dining restaurant. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test hypotheses about the impact of service robots' anthropomorphism, social presence, value perceptions and augmentation opportunities in the service triad. In study 2, empirical data from a scenario-based experimental design (n = 361) complement the field study by further scrutinizing the interplay between the service robot and FLEs within the service triad.FindingsThe study provides three important contributions. First, the authors provide empirical evidence for the interplay between different actors in the “customer-FLE-technology” service triad resulting in customer repatronage. Second, the empirical findings advance the service management literature by unraveling the relationship between anthropomorphism and social presence and their effect on perceived value in the service triad. And third, the study identifies utilitarian value of service robots as a driver of customer repatronage in fast casual dining restaurants.Practical implicationsThe results help service managers, service robot engineers and designers, and policy makers to better understand the implications of anthropomorphism, and how the utilitarian value of service robots can offer the potential for augmentation or substitution roles in the service triad.Originality/valueBuilding on existing conceptual and laboratory studies on service robots, this is one of the first field studies on the service triad consisting of service robots – customers – frontline employees. The empirical study on service triads provides evidence for the potential of FLEs to augment service robots that exhibit lower levels of functional performance to achieve customer repatronage. FLEs can do this by demonstrating a high willingness to help and having excellent interactions with customers. This finding advocates the joint service delivery by FLE – service robot teams in situations where service robot technology is not fully optimized.

Our research examines the perceptions and intentions surrounding the use of healthcare service robots. Guided by service robot acceptance model (sRAM) and stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, we explore how perceptions of functional, social, emotional, and robotic features of service robots shape their trust and use in healthcare. Our research incorporated data from 398 responses collected via an online questionnaire, which was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) through the SmartPLS software, revealing that functional (ease of use), emotional (anxiety and enjoyment), and social (social interactivity and presence) features significantly influence healthcare service robots trust and use. Contrarily, usefulness—a functional feature—had no significant role in shaping healthcare service robots trust and use. Nevertheless, trust mediated perceptions relating to anxiety, ease of use, enjoyment, social interactivity, and social presence with healthcare service robots use. Interestingly, anthropomorphism—a robotic feature—had no moderating effect while subjective norms—a non-robotic feature—only moderated the impact of social interactivity on healthcare service robots use. Conclusively, our research organizes sRAM antecedents into clear, discrete categories (functional, emotional, and social) and delivers a comprehensive, structured acceptance model. This new and novel model supports systematic theory development and comparability in healthcare service robot research while also offering critical implications for enhancing the integration and utilization of service robots within healthcare. • Functional, emotional, and social features drive robot trust and use. • Usefulness does not affect robot trust or usage. • Trust mediates the impact of anxiety, ease, and social features. • Anthropomorphism does not alter robot perception effects. • Subjective norms only modify social interactivity's influence.

Our study departs from existing research, which primarily focuses on the benefits of automated social presence in customer service. Instead, we investigate the potential downsides of a service robot’s social presence in marketing persuasion, particularly its influence on consumers’ use of persuasion knowledge. Across five experiments, we aim to: (1) identify factors affecting the social presence of a salesclerk as a persuasion agent (type of service provider, persuasive intent, and robot appearance); and (2) reveal that anthropomorphized service robots in persuasion contexts lead to a decrease in perceived salesclerk sincerity (i.e., social presence effect), ultimately impacting consumer attitudes and behaviors. Additionally, we explore the mechanism behind the social presence effect by examining the moderating role of consumers’ dispositional persuasion knowledge. By applying the persuasion knowledge model to robot-mediated service encounters, this research offers valuable insights into the potential drawbacks of using anthropomorphic robots for marketing persuasion in service relationships.

Encountering robots: Customers’ autonomous behaviors in tourism services

Artificial intelligence in hospitality is increasingly transforming the way we travel. Service robots collect, store, analyze, and act upon a continuous stream of private information as a by-product of human-robot interaction. As such, they invade consumers’ virtual and physical space and raise privacy challenges in AI settings. We conduct a survey study(n = 576) and validate a mediating contextualized model of consumers’ adoption decisions on service robots in hospitality from privacy concerns. Our findings highlight the interplay between perceived risk and perceived benefit in shaping service robots’ adoption decisions is partially mediated by privacy concerns. Our findings also highlight the mechanism of privacy concerns, conceptualized as psychological constructs of collection, control and awareness of privacy practices, as an important addition to the established multiple chain mediating effect. The insights explain how consumers calculate privacy between perceived risk and benefit, and help reconcile a fundamental tension among consumers, how to avail benefits of privacy by improving the privacy awareness and control associated with the collection of private information in hospitality.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of emotions and social influences on loyalty formation towards online travel communities.Design/methodology/approachThe individual (perceived risk) and social (subjective norm and social presence) antecedents of emotions as well as the impact of emotions on attitude and loyalty towards online travel communities are tested through structural equation modelling techniques. The sample consists of 385 active users of online travel communities in Spain.FindingsData analysis shows that perceived privacy and security risk elicit negative emotions such as stress, frustration and fear towards the online travel community. Normative influences (subjective norm) and feeling the presence of other community members (social presence) boost positive emotions towards the online travel community. Interpersonal influences have a positive effect on subjective norm but not external influences. Positive and negative emotions affect preferences towards the online travel community (attitudes) as proposed by social impact theory. Subjective norm and attitude have a direct influence on loyalty towards an online travel community, confirming previous research grounded on theory of reasoned action models.Originality/valueDespite the crucial impact of consumers’ affective states on loyalty formation, research on social media is mainly focused on the technological nature of consumer information exchanges, neglecting other drivers of consumer behaviour beyond the technology employed. This paper develops a model that integrates the relationships between consumer emotions and their individual (perceived risk) and social (social presence and subjective norm) antecedents and outcome variables (attitude and loyalty). The role of social influences is analysed, assessing the conjoint impact of one-way communication (interpersonal influences and mass media) and Web 2.0 communications (social presence) on positive emotions and loyalty formation towards the online travel community.

PurposeAs artificial intelligence technology empowers service robots, they increasingly communicate with consumers in a human-like manner. This study aims to investigate the effect of service robots’ different conversational styles (competent conversational style vs. cute conversational style) on consumer service acceptance and demonstrate the moderating role of consumers’ technology anxiety.Design/methodology/approachBased on anthropomorphism theory and social presence theory, the authors conducted two scenario-based experiments (restaurant scenario and hotel scenario) to investigate this issue.FindingsThe results indicate that service robots’ conversational styles impact consumers’ willingness to accept the use of service robots through perceived social presence and positive emotion. Moreover, consumers perceived social presence and positive emotion play a serial mechanism. In addition, the effect of competent conversational style on consumers perceived social presence is less effective than that of cute conversational style. Finally, the authors demonstrate the moderating role of consumer technology anxiety in the relationship between conversational styles and perceived social presence.Practical implicationsTo provide consumers with a positive human–robot interaction experience at the service front line, managers need to make better use of the conversational styles of service robots by comprehensively considering the characteristics of consumer technology anxiety.Originality/valueThis research extends the literature on service robots by integrating consumer characteristics and robots’ conversational styles. These findings highlight the effectiveness of cute conversational style in alleviating consumer technology anxiety.

PurposeThis paper aims to understand the process of guest-robot value co-creation in the restaurant context. It empirically examines the guest perception of value facilitation by service robots and its impact on guest value co-creation and advocacy intentions. It also investigates the moderating role of interaction comfort in the relationship between service robot value facilitation and guest value co-creation.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-methods approach was adopted. Ten customers who had dined at a service robot restaurant in China were interviewed in the qualitative study, followed by a quantitative study with 252 restaurant patrons to test the relationships between service robot value facilitation, guest value co-creation, interaction comfort and advocacy intentions.FindingsGuest perceptions of six robot attributes, including role significance, competence, social presence, warmth, autonomy and adaptability, determine service robot value facilitation. Interaction comfort moderates the influence of service robot value facilitation on guest value co-creation. Additionally, guest value co-creation mediates the effect of service robot value facilitation on advocacy intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers an understanding of six robot attributes that can improve service robot value facilitation. Nevertheless, the authors collected data from guests who had experience at service robot restaurants. The authors encourage future research to use random sampling methods to ensure study representativeness.Practical implicationsThis study offers strategic guidance for managers to deploy service robots in frontline roles in restaurants and provides important implications for service robot design to improve their facilitating role in the guest value co-creation process.Originality/valueThis study responds to a recent call for research on the role of service robots in the guest value co-creation experience. Unlike prior studies that focused on the adoption or acceptance of service robots, it examines the role of service robots in the value co-creation process (post-adoption stage). Furthermore, it is one of the early studies to identify and empirically examine the service robot attributes that enable value facilitation and foster value co-creation in guest-robot service encounters.

Purpose With the increasing integration of service robots in daily life, the study aims to identify the factors affecting willingness to adopt service robots in restaurant settings. Design/methodology/approach To examine the willingness to adopt service robots, this study gathered data from 338 respondents. The data have been analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the measurement model and proposed hypothesis. Findings The findings of the study revealed that, out of the factors lead to enjoyment, social presence is the most significant factor, followed by appearance and anthropomorphism. Regarding attitude, precision is the most significant factor followed by perceived intelligence, personalization and automation. In context of trust, privacy is the most significant factor followed by malfunction. The study finds no impact of anxiety on trust. In case of customer engagement, attitude is the most significant factor followed by enjoyment and perceived trust. Lastly, the study confirms the moderating impact of robot service quality on the relationship between customer engagement and willingness to adopt service robots. Practical implications These findings offer valuable insights for service providers, technology developers, training providers, manufacturers, marketers, restaurants and policymakers to develop more effective strategies for offering robot services in restaurants. Originality/value This study provides a comprehensive understanding of both positive and negative factors affecting willingness to adopt service robots in restaurant settings. Furthermore, the research provides important findings on the role of robot service quality as a moderator in association between the customer engagement and willingness to adopt service robots.

In Choi et al. (2024), the main trends in assistive technologies for healthcare and home environments were analyzed. In that study, assistive technologies were classified into three major groups: physical aid or mobility devices, sensor and monitoring systems, and assistive robots. In an ageing society, with people living longer and a lack of medical personnel, there is undoubtedly a growing interest in the development and commercialization of robotic systems that are able to provide support at healthcare facilities and home environments Bajones et al. (2018); Keroglou et al. (2023); Silvera-Tawil (2024). At healthcare facilities, robots improve the diagnosis and treatment of many different diseases (mental and physical) and they help professional staff be more efficient, with more time for patients. At home, they assist to prevent accidents, they have the potential to perform different household tasks, keep the users active with cognitive and physical activities, and raise alarms if needed. Assistive robots designed for therapeutic purposes have proven useful in reducing agitation of elderly people and stress of caregivers Kolstad et al. (2020).One major challenge is the robustness and reliability of these robotic systems, which involve complex technologies and software, and usually operate in highly unpredictable environments Bajones et al. (2018). All these topics are of course interconnected, since advances in one direction may reveal and help address other kinds of issues Bajones et al. (2018). This Frontiers Research Topic aims at compiling a general overview of ongoing work and recent results in these areas, specifically targeted to solve open problems for assistive and service robots in health and home applications. that the presented methodology is better than state-of-the-art multihypothesis methods, mainly in terms 31 of particle quality and location estimation. Accurate self-localization is achieved even in complex and 32 dynamic situations. This approach shows a high recovery rate after intentional position perturbations, 33 highlighting its reliability in indoor navigation.Being able to determine its own position for navigation to known places is a key aspect for many 35 functionalities such as transportation of different items or for cleaning tasks. However, other activities 36 involved in support for daily living require proper detection and communication with the user. Hence, 37 another topic of high relevance for this kind of service robots is the interaction between the human and the 38 robot. In many cases, a successful interaction requires reliable human pose estimation algorithms. Tang This approach seems very promising for difficult tasks in domestic settings and could be used as a basis 61 to handle irregular objects in the presence of complicated occlusions or with a limited field of view. Other significant challenges for health and home robots come from the integration of components towards 68 advanced systems that provide a variety of functionalities to support the users. The work by Mora et 69 al. describes the ADAM robot, designed to assist elderly people by performing household tasks such as 70 cleaning and picking up objects. This setup contributes to improving the autonomy of older people in 71 the home. ADAM, equipped with a manipulation system consisting of two robotic arms and autonomous 72 navigation, also learns from human interactions. This work contributes significantly to social robotics 73 by integrating physical assistance functions with social interaction capabilities, reducing loneliness, and 74 providing better care for older people, enhancing their independence and well-being. From robot localization and human pose estimation to grasping, mental and physical HRI and integrated 88 robotic devices for more advanced support, novel ideas are presented and evaluated.From the topic contributions, we would like to highlight some key areas for ongoing research. In mobile 90 robots navigation for domestic environments, achieving more accurate localization in long and large 91 symmetric spaces, and the ability to relocalize, are important capabilities that will attract more attention.In this field, and also related to HRI, there is a current trend towards the integration and exploitation of Future work should also focus on more empirical testing with real users in real environments, both 96 for individual functionalities and for multi-purpose robots and assistive devices. The benefits of shared 97 control for performing difficult tasks should also be further studied, integrated and evaluated. The ethical 98 implications of the development and adoption of assistive and medical robots should be further studied.

The purposes of this study are to explore the principles and rules of human-service robot division and interaction when introducing service robots into the catering service industry. Focus group interview and in-depth expert interview were conducted. The results indicated that the participants had high acceptance of importing service robot into catering service. They feel the service robots are somewhat novel and attractively. From the perspective of task orientation, the participants think that the service robots could be introduced to all of the catering service process in the future. However, they also hoped that the human and robots can cooperate and work together in the processes. They hope to have more interaction with robots. They are delight to see the service robot can bring customers different feelings and experience. They don't want to face a standard and ice-cold robot. The participants hope that the service robots have a wide variety of external appearance to meet the style of restaurants. They also anticipate the robot can act various body movements and facial expression. Immediate assistance to customers and service workers are expected. Incorrect message transmission can be tolerant by the customers, however, exact communication with service personnel is considered to be very important. The service workers have willing to work together with service robots and hope the high-risk and heavy work can be done by service robots to reduce accidents and improve the reliability and safety. The feeling of safety and more affect feeling is needed for the customers. Besides, the participants are more concerned about the value that service robots can generate. Cost down of human resources and reduced workload was expected especially. Application of service robots does not necessarily imply that manual and cognitive tasks will be replaced by machines. It is essential to serve and observe the emotional needs of customers and service workers. High-skilled workers may become more productive as they become co-workers of machines and both complement each other even at the same level of value creation. Therefore, thinking about how to cooperate and work together for the workers and service robot while introducing service robot into catering service is an important topic. The customers and service workers are looking forward to get along with an interactive, emotional, and reliable service robot.

Luxury retailers are increasingly considering the introduction of service robots in their stores to enhance the value proposition and reshape the dynamics of both the service encounter and the customer experience. Although the literature recognizes the social presence of robots in service encounters, little empirical research compares humans and service robots related to luxury. In addition, further research is needed to investigate the emotional responses of young customers, like Generation Z, to a technology-infused servicescape and to explore the value of service robots as a social presence in luxury stores. A 2×2 mixed methods experimental design was developed to test the research hypotheses. The study was conducted in a laboratory with 116 participants randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: approaching vs. non-approaching behavior with a service robot or a human sales assistant. Self-reports and neurophysiological responses (skin conductance) were collected to measure their responses during the service encounter. The results show that a human or a service robot approaching the customer can lead to greater positive affective states and emotional responses than a human or a service robot not approaching. In addition, we found that young customers do not differentiate between human sales assistants and service robots. However, the customers’ level of immersion in the flow, understanding of the message, and happiness are higher with a human sales assistant. Finally, the absence of any interaction (non-approaching) during the service encounter leads to a negative reaction to a human sales assistant compared to a service robot, showing the importance of personalized and deep connections in luxury service.

Purpose This study aims to propose a service robot option to address shortages of human frontline employees (FLEs) in long-term care (LTC) service settings. With a field study, the authors investigate the effect of psychological comfort with robot reminders of LTC residents and human FLEs on acceptance and attentive engagement, ultimately resulting in effort and willingness to interact with the service robot. The outcomes provide valuable insights into human-robot interaction in the LTC sector. Design/methodology/approach The 45 residents and 49 human FLEs who participated in the field study completed a survey measuring various perceptual variables after deploying a service robot. Findings Both the residents’ sample and the FLE sample demonstrate that psychological comfort with robot reminders increases robot acceptance. This increased acceptance evokes greater attentive engagement, ultimately leading to a higher willingness to exert effort to interact with the service robots. Research limitations/implications This study highlights service robots with well-received reminder functions and the ability to prompt efforts by both residents and employees during their implementation at LTC services. The findings suggest further research avenues for designing service robots that can be effectively integrated. Originality/value This study leverages a service robot in a field study involving LTC residents and human FLEs rather than hypothetical scenarios, which is rather limited in current studies. The findings are both timely and relevant, considering the gradual implementation of service robots into LTC services.

Service robots are increasingly deployed in various industries including tourism. In spite of extensive research on the user’s experience in interaction with these robots, there are yet unanswered questions about the factors that influence user’s compliance. Through three online studies, we investigate the effect of the robot anthropomorphism and language style on customers’ willingness to follow its recommendations. The mediating role of the perceived mind and persuasiveness in this relationship is also investigated. Study 1 (n = 89) shows that a service robot with a higher level of anthropomorphic features positively influences the willingness of users to follow its recommendations while language style does not affect compliance. Study 2a (n = 168) further confirms this finding when we presented participants with a tablet vs. a service robot with an anthropomorphic appearance while communication style does not affect compliance. Finally, Study 2b (n = 122) supports the indirect effect of anthropomorphism level on the willingness to follow recommendations through perceived mind followed by persuasiveness. The findings provide valuable insight to enhance human–robot interaction in service settings.