Assessing the hotel service robot interaction on tourists' behaviour: the role of anthropomorphism

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of service robots on hotel visitors' behaviour and to verify the role of anthropomorphism(human likeness) in customer satisfaction with robots.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey of 381 respondents was conducted, divided into three types of robots according to the level of anthropomorphism. The research model was thoroughly tested using the PLS-SEM method. Research model was tested thoroughly using the PLS-SEM method.

Findings

This study found that user satisfaction with service robots in a hotel had a positive impact on user satisfaction, attitude towards the hotel and room purchase intention. Moreover, our results showed that users were most likely to accept medium-human likeness robots and least likely to accept high–human likeness robots.

Originality/value

This study proposes influencing factors to be considered when researching hotel service robots, as well as practical suggestions for any hotel intending to use or currently using a service robot.

Citation

Jia, J.W., Chung, N. and Hwang, J. (2021), "Assessing the hotel service robot interaction on tourists' behaviour: the role of anthropomorphism", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 121 No. 6, pp. 1457-1478. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-11-2020-0664