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Article
Publication date: 13 May 2019

Stanislav Ivanov, Ulrike Gretzel, Katerina Berezina, Marianna Sigala and Craig Webster

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of research on robotics in travel, tourism and hospitality, and to identify research gaps and directions for future research.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of research on robotics in travel, tourism and hospitality, and to identify research gaps and directions for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyzes 131 publications published during 1993-2019, identified via Scopus, Web of Science, ResearchGate, Academia.edu and Google Scholar. It offers quantitative analysis of frequencies and cross-tables and qualitative thematic analysis of the publications within each of seven identified domains.

Findings

The paper identifies “Robot,” “Human,” “Robot manufacturer,” “Travel/tourism/hospitality company,” “Servicescape,” “External environment” and “Education, training and research” as the research domains. Most research studies are dedicated to robots in restaurants, airports, hotels and bars. Papers tend to apply engineering methods, but experiments and surveys grow in popularity. Asia-Pacific countries account for much of the empirical research.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis was limited to publications indexed in four databases and one search engine. Only publications in English were considered. Growing opportunities for those who are anxious to publish in the field are identified. Importantly, emerging research is branching out from the engineering of robots to the possibilities for human/robot interactions and their use for service providers, opening up new avenues of research for tourism and hospitality scholars.

Practical implications

The paper identified a myriad of application areas for robots across various tourism and hospitality sectors. Service providers must critically think about how robots affect the servicescape and how it needs to be adjusted or re-imagined to ensure that robots and employees can augment the service experiences (co-)created within it.

Originality/value

This is the first study to systematically analyze research publications on robotics in travel, tourism and hospitality.

研究目的

本论文全面评论了在旅游酒店业中的机器人技术的研究, 并指出文献缺口和未来研究方向。

研究设计/方法/途径

本论文分析了在1993年至2019年发布在Scopus、Web of Science、ResearchGate、Academia.edu、和Google Scholar的131篇文献。本论文对文献做了一系列定量分析, 包括频率分析、交叉表、定性文本分析、在七大确立的领域中对每个领域的文献进行分析。

研究结果

本论文确立了七个研究领域:机器人、人类、机器生产者、旅游酒店企业、Servicescape、外部环境、和教育培训和研究。大多数文献集中在对饭店、机场、酒店、和酒吧的机器人研究。文献往往采用工程手段进行研究, 但是实验和问卷方式正在呈增长趋势。亚太国家占据大多数实证研究作品。

研究理论限制/意义

本论文样本库局限于四个数据库和一个搜索引擎。只有英文文献被采样。本论文为对相关领域感兴趣的学者指出研究方向。重要的是, 本论文发现用工程角度研究机器人的文献有了分支, 有一小部分文献开始着手研究人/机器人交互和其在服务过程中的使用的研究, 这对旅游酒店学者提供新研究视角。

研究实践意义

本论文指出了一系列有关旅游酒店领域中机器人的应用。服务商必须重视机器人如何影响Servicescape以及如何审视机器人与人的交互, 确保其与员工加强消费者的服务体验(价值共创)。

研究原创性/价值

本论文是首篇系统评论旅游酒店领域中机器人研究文献的文章。

关键词:机器人、机器人经济、机器人设计、机器人使用、Servicescape、rService、人-机器人交互、研究议程

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 June 2021

Magnus Söderlund

This study aims to examine humans’ reactions to service robots’ display of warmth in robot-to-robot interactions – a setting in which humans’ impressions of a service robot will…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine humans’ reactions to service robots’ display of warmth in robot-to-robot interactions – a setting in which humans’ impressions of a service robot will not only be based on what this robot does in relation to humans, but also on what it does to other robots.

Design/methodology/approach

Service robot display of warmth was manipulated in an experimental setting in such a way that a service robot A expressed low versus high levels of warmth in relation to another service robot B.

Findings

The results indicate that a high level of warmth expressed by robot A vis-à-vis robot B boosted humans’ overall evaluations of A, and that this influence was mediated by the perceived humanness and the perceived happiness of A.

Originality/value

Numerous studies have examined humans’ reactions when they interact with a service robot or other synthetic agents that provide service. Future service encounters, however, will comprise also multi-robot systems, which means that there will be many opportunities for humans to be exposed to robot-to-robot interactions. Yet, this setting has hitherto rarely been examined in the service literature.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 35 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2021

Aarni Tuomi, Iis P. Tussyadiah and Paul Hanna

This paper aims to explore the implications of integrating humanoid service robots into hospitality service encounters by evaluating two service prototypes using Softbank…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the implications of integrating humanoid service robots into hospitality service encounters by evaluating two service prototypes using Softbank Robotics’ popular service robot Pepper™: to provide information (akin to a receptionist) and to facilitate order-taking (akin to a server). Drawing both studies together, the paper puts forward novel, theory-informed yet context-rooted design principles for humanoid robot adoption in hospitality service encounters.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a multiple method qualitative approach, two service prototypes are evaluated with hospitality and tourism experts (N = 30, Prototype 1) and frontline hospitality employees (N = 18, Prototype 2) using participant observation, in situ feedback, semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation.

Findings

The adoption of humanoid service robots in hospitality is influenced by the following four layers of determinants: contextual, social, interactional and psychological factors, as well as extrinsic and intrinsic drivers of adoption. These empirical findings both confirm and extend previous conceptualizations of human-robot interaction (HRI) in hospitality service.

Research limitations/implications

Despite using photo-elicitation to evoke insight regarding the use of different types of service robots in hospitality, the paper mostly focuses on anthropomorphized service robots such as Pepper™.

Practical implications

Adopting humanoid service robots will transform hospitality operations, whereby the most routine, unpleasant tasks such as taking repeat orders or dealing with complaints may be delegated to service robots or human-robot teams.

Social implications

Working with and receiving service from Pepper™ changes the service encounter from direct practical, technical considerations to more nuanced social and psychological implications, particularly around feelings of self-esteem, social pressure and social judgment.

Originality/value

This paper presents one of the first empirical studies on HRI in hospitality service encounters using Softbank Robotics’ Pepper™. In doing so, the paper presents a novel framework for service robot adoption rooted in first-hand user interaction as opposed to previous, theory-driven conceptualizations of behavior or empirical studies exploring behavioral intention.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 33 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2021

Aarni Tuomi and Mário Passos Ascenção

Automation poses to change how service work is organized. However, there is a lack of understanding of how automation influences specific sectors, including specific hospitality…

Abstract

Purpose

Automation poses to change how service work is organized. However, there is a lack of understanding of how automation influences specific sectors, including specific hospitality jobs. Addressing this gap, this paper looks at the relative automatability of jobs and tasks which fall within one specific hospitality context: frontline food service.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 analyzes the UK Office for National Statistics' Standard Occupational Classification (2020) data to determine the degree to which frontline food service jobs consist of tasks requiring mechanical, analytical, intuitive or empathetic intelligence. Study 2 contrasts these findings to current state of intelligent automation technology development through interviews and a focus group with food service technology experts (n = 13).

Findings

Of all the tasks listed under food service in the ONS SOC 2020, 58.8% are found to require mechanical, 26.8% analytical, 11.3% intuitive and 3.1% empathetic intelligence. Further, the automatability of these tasks is found to be driven by three streams of technology development in particular: (1) autonomous navigation, (2) object manipulation and (3) natural language processing.

Originality/value

Hospitality management literature has started to conceptualize a move from mechanical and analytical service tasks to tasks centered around intuition and empathy. While previous studies have adopted a general view to what this might mean for hospitality jobs, this paper develops a novel, task-centric framework for Actioning Intelligent Automation in Frontline Food Service.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2019

Lisa Nicole Cain, John H. Thomas and Miguel Alonso Jr

This paper aims to review the extant hospitality and tourism literature on the state of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) in the service industry. The aim was to highlight…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to review the extant hospitality and tourism literature on the state of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) in the service industry. The aim was to highlight the current areas of research on this emerging topic and identify areas for future application and study.

Design/methodology/approach

A list of hospitality and tourism journals was used to identify articles related to AI and robotics using the terms AI, robots, robotics, hospitality and tourism, and several combinations thereof. Additional sources were identified through the literature reviews from the identified works.

Findings

The findings revealed several studies on the current state of robotics and AI in hospitality and tourism. Additional research examines and discusses implications for internal and external customer service, legal and ethical issues and theory.

Originality/value

This paper provides a compilation of the current studies that examine the impact of robotics and AI in hospitality and tourism. It offers scholars an overview of the current knowledge in the field on this rapidly emerging and evolving topic.

研究目的

本文审阅了有关服务行业中机器学和智能技术(AI)发展的相关文献。其研究目的在于强调有关这个新兴话题的研究领域和指出未来研究方向。

研究设计/方法/途径

本文样本包括有关AI和机器学的期刊文献,关键搜索词包括AI、机器人、机器学、酒店管理、旅游,以及几项关键词组合。本文还通过文献综述审阅了多个数据源。

研究结果

研究结果描述了目前酒店旅游行业机器学和AI有关领域的研究状态。此外本文还研究和提出对于内部和外部客户服务、法律伦理问题、以及理论等领域做出研究启示。

研究原创性/价值

本文对目前有关机器学和AI酒店旅游学术研究进行系统梳理。为学者对其相关领域的现状提供全局视角,并且显示这个新兴话题的迅速发展。

关键词

文献综述、AI、机器学、酒店科技

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 August 2018

Miguel-Angel Sicilia and Anna Visvizi

The purpose of this paper is to employ the case of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data repositories to examine the potential of blockchain technology…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to employ the case of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data repositories to examine the potential of blockchain technology in the context of addressing basic contemporary societal concerns, such as transparency, accountability and trust in the policymaking process. Current approaches to sharing data employ standardized metadata, in which the provider of the service is assumed to be a trusted party. However, derived data, analytic processes or links from policies, are in many cases not shared in the same form, thus breaking the provenance trace and making the repetition of analysis conducted in the past difficult. Similarly, it becomes tricky to test whether certain conditions justifying policies implemented still apply. A higher level of reuse would require a decentralized approach to sharing both data and analytic scripts and software. This could be supported by a combination of blockchain and decentralized file system technology.

Design/methodology/approach

The findings presented in this paper have been derived from an analysis of a case study, i.e., analytics using data made available by the OECD. The set of data the OECD provides is vast and is used broadly. The argument is structured as follows. First, current issues and topics shaping the debate on blockchain are outlined. Then, a redefinition of the main artifacts on which some simple or convoluted analytic results are based is revised for some concrete purposes. The requirements on provenance, trust and repeatability are discussed with regards to the architecture proposed, and a proof of concept using smart contracts is used for reasoning on relevant scenarios.

Findings

A combination of decentralized file systems and an open blockchain such as Ethereum supporting smart contracts can ascertain that the set of artifacts used for the analytics is shared. This enables the sequence underlying the successive stages of research and/or policymaking to be preserved. This suggests that, in turn, and ex post, it becomes possible to test whether evidence supporting certain findings and/or policy decisions still hold. Moreover, unlike traditional databases, blockchain technology makes it possible that immutable records can be stored. This means that the artifacts can be used for further exploitation or repetition of results. In practical terms, the use of blockchain technology creates the opportunity to enhance the evidence-based approach to policy design and policy recommendations that the OECD fosters. That is, it might enable the stakeholders not only to use the data available in the OECD repositories but also to assess corrections to a given policy strategy or modify its scope.

Research limitations/implications

Blockchains and related technologies are still maturing, and several questions related to their use and potential remain underexplored. Several issues require particular consideration in future research, including anonymity, scalability and stability of the data repository. This research took as example OECD data repositories, precisely to make the point that more research and more dialogue between the research and policymaking community is needed to embrace the challenges and opportunities blockchain technology generates. Several questions that this research prompts have not been addressed. For instance, the question of how the sharing economy concept for the specifics of the case could be employed in the context of blockchain has not been dealt with.

Practical implications

The practical implications of the research presented here can be summarized in two ways. On the one hand, by suggesting how a combination of decentralized file systems and an open blockchain, such as Ethereum supporting smart contracts, can ascertain that artifacts are shared, this paper paves the way toward a discussion on how to make this approach and solution reality. The approach and architecture proposed in this paper would provide a way to increase the scope of the reuse of statistical data and results and thus would improve the effectiveness of decision making as well as the transparency of the evidence supporting policy.

Social implications

Decentralizing analytic artifacts will add to existing open data practices an additional layer of benefits for different actors, including but not limited to policymakers, journalists, analysts and/or researchers without the need to establish centrally managed institutions. Moreover, due to the degree of decentralization and absence of a single-entry point, the vulnerability of data repositories to cyberthreats might be reduced. Simultaneously, by ensuring that artifacts derived from data based in those distributed depositories are made immutable therein, full reproducibility of conclusions concerning the data is possible. In the field of data-driven policymaking processes, it might allow policymakers to devise more accurate ways of addressing pressing issues and challenges.

Originality/value

This paper offers the first blueprint of a form of sharing that complements open data practices with the decentralized approach of blockchain and decentralized file systems. The case of OECD data repositories is used to highlight that while data storing is important, the real added value of blockchain technology rests in the possible change on how we use the data and data sets in the repositories. It would eventually enable a more transparent and actionable approach to linking policy up with the supporting evidence. From a different angle, throughout the paper the case is made that rather than simply data, artifacts from conducted analyses should be made persistent in a blockchain. What is at stake is the full reproducibility of conclusions based on a given set of data, coupled with the possibility of ex post testing the validity of the assumptions and evidence underlying those conclusions.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Anis Najiha Ahmad, Tajul A. Yang and Wan Nadiah Wan Abdullah

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perceived knowledge of the general concept of halal food and actual knowledge of halal food principles with emphasis on alcohol…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perceived knowledge of the general concept of halal food and actual knowledge of halal food principles with emphasis on alcohol (alcoholic drinks and ethanol).

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional descriptive survey, using quantitative research methods, was utilized. A self-administered survey was distributed to 188 undergraduate students of the food technology programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and a total of 114 responses were obtained.

Findings

Results indicate that respondents believed that they have above average competence regarding the concept, sources, ingredients, processing and the overall production of halal foods (score: 3.75-4.18). In addition, all of the 114 respondents also agreed that alcoholic drinks are fundamentally prohibited in Islam. However, the survey also revealed that the respondents were less certain about the application of alcohol in halal food production. Respondents’ actual knowledge on these issues was low to average.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited by its cross-sectional nature. In addition, the research was only conducted on undergraduate-level students of the food technology programme, and therefore, results derived might not be generalized to the other segments of the population. The overall uncertainty and misconception about the application of alcohol in halal food highlights the need to improve the knowledge of these undergraduate students to more than a mere theory of the concepts of halal and haram.

Originality/value

No previous study has been conducted to explore the issue pertaining to alcohol in halal food, and this paper categorically strives to fill this gap.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

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