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The purpose of this study is to critically reflect on visually impaired customers’ technology assistance needs and the perceptions of existing technologies’ performance in the contexts of hospitality and tourism.

Following a qualitative approach, this study used in-depth semistructured interviews with 19 participants with visual impairments.

Positive and negative sides of technology-assisted experiences in the hotel, restaurant, and travel domains were summarized, and room for improvement was discussed to enhance the quality of life and travel experience of visually impaired customers.

Findings from this study offer actionable implications and future directions to technicians and managers to make hospitality and travel experiences more inclusive.

This timely reflection addresses a critical situation by offering original ideas and calling for more discussion of under-represented groups with visual impairments.

The purpose of this research is to propose and empirically validate a theoretical framework to investigate the willingness of the elderly to disclose personal health information (PHI) to improve the operational efficiency of AI-integrated caregiver robots.

Drawing upon Privacy Calculus Theory (PCT) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), 274 usable responses were collected through an online survey.

Empirical results reveal that trust, privacy concerns, and social isolation have a direct impact on the willingness to disclose PHI. Perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), social isolation, and recognized benefits significantly influence user trust. Conversely, elderly individuals with pronounced privacy concerns are less inclined to disclose PHI when using AI-enabled caregiver robots.

Given the pressing need for AI-enabled caregiver robots due to the aging population and a decrease in professional human caregivers, understanding factors that influence the elderly's disclosure of PHI can guide design considerations and policymaking.

Considering the increased demand for accurate and comprehensive elder services, this is the first time that information disclosure and AI-enabled caregiver robot technologies have been combined in the field of healthcare management. This study bridges the gap between the necessity for technological improvement in caregiver robots and the importance of transparent operational information by disclosing the elderly's willingness to share PHI.

Powered by artificial intelligence, voice assistants (VAs), such as Alexa, Siri and Cortona, are at early-stage adoption rates in service contexts. Customers express hesitance in using the technology. Furthermore, the effect of a relevant variable (VA empathy) as a determinant of VAs is not widely researched. This study aims to extend the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and social response theory (SRT) to propose and test a conceptual model of the role of customer perceptions of VA empathy and risk on VA adoption and usage intensity.

In this study, data were collected from 387 VA users in the USA using a survey administered through Amazon MTurk. Data cleaning retained a final n = 318 for structural equation modeling analysis.

Findings show that perceived VA empathy enhances customers’ attitude toward VA and drives adoption, thereby increasing VA usage intensity. Perceived risk is a moderator; users with high perceptions of VA empathy have greater VA adoption rates when they have high (vs low) risk perceptions of using VA.

This research is one of the first known studies to provide empirical evidence of the role of customer perceptions of VA empathy and risk on VA adoption in service delivery. It goes beyond VA adoption research to provide empirical evidence of the impact of VA adoption on actual usage intensity. By extending the UTAUT and SRT, this research adds to the theoretical foundation for research on VA adoption, offering practical insights for firms regarding empathetic VA design to enhance customer service delivery.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a significant impact on value co-creation (VCC). However, a study providing a comprehensive summary of the current state of the art and common ground of the two fields is missing. The current study aims to fill this gap by conceptualizing the role of AI in VCC and customer decision-making.

The study reviews literature on VCC and AI together, including a total of 108 articles. To bring the literature together, the authors adopted the antecedents-mediators-outcomes framework and narrative approach that helped them develop a framework by integrating the antecedents, mediators and outcomes of AI-facilitated VCC. Furthermore, the authors also operationalized existing literature to facilitate an understanding of the role of AI in customer decision-making.

The study, in addition to identifying the common theoretical grounds of VCC and AI (human behavior, cognition and social interactions), operationalizes AI functionality, its characteristics and customer characteristics as the antecedents of AI-facilitated VCC. Moreover, based on literature, on the continuum of low-to-high involvement, four types of decision-making were identified as mediator of the relationship between AI characteristics, customer characteristics and VCC. Additionally, the authors found different categorizations of AI in literature as archetypes to support various forms of VCC.

The study contributes to the literature of VCC and AI by construing a comprehensive framework for analyzing AI's impact on VCC, envisioning customer–AI interaction as continual exchange of advantages in which characteristics of AI and customers play a critical role in customer decision-making and shaping VCC.

This study investigates the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) stimuli on customer stickiness (CS), the mediation effects of social presence (SP) and the moderating impacts of customer traits in this influencing process.

Drawing on the arousal theory and social response theory, a conceptual model was established and tested by a data set of 268 customers in the catering industry.

The results indicate that AI stimuli, such as perceived personalization and perceived interactivity, positively affect CS. SP partially mediates the influence of AI stimuli on CS. Customer traits such as customers' need for interaction (NFI) and novelty seeking (NS) actively moderate the mediating effects of SP.

This study advances the interactive marketing literature from three aspects. Firstly, instead of focusing on the functional aspects of AI stimuli, it extends our understanding of AI-enabled interactive marketing by examining the effects of social and emotional aspects of AI stimuli on customer response. Secondly, it extends our understanding of social response by illuminating the mediating effects of SP between AI stimuli and CS. Finally, it provides new insights and empirical evidence for the research focus on customer traits in AI-enabled interactive marketing.

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for the perceived intelligence of VAs and explore the mechanisms of different dimensions of the perceived intelligence of VAs on users’ exploration intention (UEI) and how these antecedents can collectively result in the highest level of UEI.

An online survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk is employed. The model is tested utilizing the structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach from the collected data of VA users (N = 244).

According to the SEM outcomes, perceptual, cognitive, emotional and social intelligence have different mechanisms on UEI. Findings from the fsQCA reinforce the SEM results and provide the configurations that enhanced UEI.

This study extends the conceptual framework of perceived intelligence and enriches the literature on anthropomorphism and users’ exploration. These findings also provide insightful suggestions for practitioners regarding the design of VA products.

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.

This paper analyses whether the humanisation of smart home speakers can improve users' attitudes towards covert information collection. Additionally, it examines the direct and indirect impact of trust, social presence and user's perceived surveillance on attitude towards covert information collection.

A total of 679 American users of smart home speakers are surveyed, and their responses are analysed using structural equation modelling. Mediating effects are also examined.

Humanisation increases social presence, improves users' attitude towards covert information collection and has a U-shaped effect on trust. A negative effect of humanisation on perceived surveillance is demonstrated. Social presence reduces perceived surveillance levels and improves users' attitude towards covert information collection.

We examine attitude towards covert information collection as a new outcome variable. This study contributes to the growing body of research on humanisation by providing new evidence of how humanisation helps improve users' attitude towards covert information collection and generates trust in the service provider. This research indicates the important role of social presence.

Assistive technology has been developed to assist the visually impaired individuals in their social interactions. Specifically designed to enhance communication skills, facilitate social engagement and improve the overall quality of life, conversational assistive technologies include speech recognition APIs, text-to-speech APIs and various communication tools that are real. Enable real-time interaction. Using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms, the technology analyzes spoken language and provides appropriate responses, offering an immersive experience through voice commands, audio feedback and vibration alerts.

These technologies have demonstrated their ability to promote self-confidence and self-reliance in visually impaired individuals during social interactions. Moreover, they promise to improve social competence and foster better relationships. In short, assistive technology in conversation stands as a promising tool that empowers the visually impaired individuals, elevating the quality of their social engagement.

The main benefit of assistive communication technology is that it will help visually impaired people overcome communication barriers in social contexts. This technology helps them communicate effectively with acquaintances, family, co-workers and even strangers in public places. By enabling smoother and more natural communication, it works to reduce feelings of isolation and increase overall quality of life.

Research findings include successful activity recognition, aligning with activities on which the VGG-16 model was trained, such as hugging, shaking hands, talking, walking, waving and more. The originality of this study lies in its approach to address the challenges faced by the visually impaired individuals in their social interactions through modern technology. Research adds to the body of knowledge in the area of assistive technologies, which contribute to the empowerment and social inclusion of the visually impaired individuals.

Despite continuing workforce challenges over the last decade, the social care system is considered a key enabler in keeping older people out of hospital. In response to the workforce challenges, White Paper was released, which acknowledged the opportunities afforded by digital technology to assist older people ageing at home, often supported by informal caregivers. Given the policy emphasis on digital-enabled care, the most appropriate methods for evaluating its impact on social care outcomes have yet to be determined. The purpose this study was to review the current literature using a systematic approach to understand the methodological limitations to inform more robust evaluations in their use in future research.

This scoping review used a systematic approach adopting the framework of Arksey and O’Malley to examine studies examining the adoption of digital technologies to assist in older people’s ability to age in place.

The 21 relevant studies identified on digital technology to assist ageing-in-place are evolving. To date, it has focused on the efficacy and usability of the digital technologies themselves rather than investigating the impact of such technologies on re/enablement outcomes for older people. To rebalance this emphasis, there needs to be more research investigating the factors that enhance useability of digital technologies by older people and exploiting narrative data gained from qualitative research as they can provide valuable insights.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first scoping review to consider qualitative methodological approaches for exploring ageing in place.