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Purpose – This study examined the impacts of racial discrimination on the self-reported health among Asian Americans.

Methodology/Approach – This study investigated a subsample of 1,090 Asian Americans from the 2008 National Asian American Survey. Three-category measure of self-reported health was constructed ain. Racial discrimination experiences encompassed (1) interpersonal discrimination, (2) institutional racism, and (3) hate crime. Ordered logistic regression models were employed to test the association between self-reported health and experiences of racial discrimination among Asian Americans.

Findings – With respect to ethnic origin, South Asians showed lower levels of self-reported health than East Asians/Asian Indians. Although the baseline effect of each discrimination indicator was insignificant, there was an interactional effect between ethnic origin and racial discrimination, indicating the more interpersonal discriminatory experiences, the worse health status for South Asians.

Research limitations – There remained some limitations including data and the measures of racial discrimination.

Originality/Value of Paper – Despite the limitations, this study revealed that as a risk factor, how experiences of racial discrimination shape health disparities among ethnic groups in the United States, focusing on the heterogeneity within Asian Americans.

This paper aims to investigate the roles of different types of customer value in influencing in customer evaluations of Airbnb. In particular, this study empirically tests the roles of four value dimensions in shaping existing Airbnb users’ attitudes and future behavioral intentions along with the effects of tripographic characteristics on users’ post-purchase evaluative judgments.

This study adopted a multi-study approach to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, theoretical relationships between constructs were proposed and empirically analyzed; and in Study 2, a different sample was used to validate the hypothesized model and enhance the external validity of the findings. After completing both studies, the two samples were combined to test for the moderating effects of several key tripographic factors among Airbnb users.

This study found that price value, emotional value, quality value and social value were critical factors exerting differential effects on customers’ evaluations of Airbnb. Further analysis of group differences revealed that Airbnb customers’ value perceptions differed significantly depending on the length of stay, group size and number of previous trips. The number of previous trips also had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between social value and attitudes.

The findings of this study contribute to the literature on Airbnb by presenting a comprehensive assessment of the differential effects of value components in evaluating Airbnb experiences with the consideration of tripographic characteristics. While supporting the importance of emotional, social, quality and price value to Airbnb guests, the results also show that Airbnb seems to appeal particularly to visitors who stay longer, travel with large groups and have used the platform several times in the past.

The findings of this study provide important insight into which customer values contribute to users’ attitudes and consequent favorable behaviors. More importantly, this study emphasized the importance of understanding the moderating effects of tripographic characteristics in the relationships between customer values and existing users’ evaluative judgment of Airbnb experiences.

This study aims to present a novel examination of actor value formation (AVF) in the sharing economy by uncovering its key dimensions (i.e. information seeking, personal interaction and feedback) at each stage of Airbnb consumption. Using multi-source data, how the key dimensions of AVF affect consumers’ evaluative judgment capturing the key aspects of consumption experiences (i.e. communication quality, value for money and overall evaluations) was empirically tested.

This study adopted a triangulated, multi-study approach to test and validate the hypotheses. In Study 1, the authors analyzed 586,778 online reviews through deductive and inductive approaches to determine how three AVF dimensions could be captured and examine these dimensions’ effects on consumers’ evaluative judgments. In Study 2, an online survey was adopted to improve the reliability and validity of findings.

This study identified positive and negative outcomes of AVF. The results also revealed which AVF dimensions significantly led to communication quality and value for money, which in turn influenced consumers’ overall evaluations. The findings further provided robust support for the mediating role of value for money as a mechanism in the relationships between AVF and overall evaluations across the two studies.

This study contributes to the literature by empirically identifying the three key dimensions of AVF in each consumption stage and subsequently testing a conceptual model using different data, research methods and analytical techniques to cross-validate the results. The authors also extended the scope of AVF by integrating both positive and negative aspects in the context of Airbnb.

Although humanoid robots are increasingly adopted in many business settings, the dynamic effects of anthropomorphism and the functional perceptions of service robots on consumers’ responses remain unclear. This paper aims to examine the impacts of robot anthropomorphism on consumers’ trust, receptivity and the downstream effect on satisfaction. Furthermore, it examines the mediating effects of perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) in the relationship between anthropomorphism and consumer responses.

After conducting two separate pilot studies to help design the research materials, this research involves three sequential studies. In studies 1A and 1B, the authors used two distinct humanoid robots (i.e. Connie and Pepper) to test the direct effects of anthropomorphism on trust and receptivity and the mediated effects via PEOU and PU. Study 2 conducted a 2 (robot appearance: machine-like vs. human-like) × 2 (task complexity: low vs. high) between-subjects experimental design to further explore the boundary effects of task complexity on trust and customer satisfaction.

This research theorizes and empirically examines the mediating effects of PEOU and PU in the relationship between anthropomorphism and consumers’ responses (i.e. trust and receptivity) to service robots. Results also demonstrate a moderating role of task complexity, whereby only when the task was complex did anthropomorphism affect consumer responses and customer satisfaction. The parallel mediations of PEOU and PU were also confirmed. However, when task complexity was low, the authors observed no differences between human- and machine-like robots.

First, this research used a scenario-based method by exposing participants to different pictures or videos of service robots and measuring individuals’ responses. Consumers may respond differently upon interacting with robots in actual service contexts. Second, future research could investigate the effects of other aspects of anthropomorphism, such as robots’ voice characteristics (gender, high/low pitch), verbal communication styles and emotional expression. Finally, future research could explore other service contexts to test the generalizability of the findings.

Findings of this study also provide useful insight for companies interested in adopting service robots. First, the authors unearthed several positive outcomes of using human-like versus machine-like robots in service settings. Despite concerns about the perceived creepiness and discomfort associated with human-like robots, managers should not worry about these service agents’ potential negative effects. Second, it shows that human-like robots’ competitive advantage over machine-like robots stands out when task complexity is high. Managers should therefore carefully consider relevant service characteristics and task requirements when deciding whether to adopt robots.

This study provides original and valuable contributions to the growing literature on service robots by addressing scholarly incongruencies regarding the impact of anthropomorphism and disentangling its positive influence on consumers’ perceptions and acceptance of service robots. This study also contributes to research on technology acceptance and service robot receptivity by empirically demonstrating the mediating role of PEOU and PU. Furthermore, this research enriches the body of knowledge on task-technology fit by providing evidence that task complexity is a crucial factor to consider in service robot design.