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| Project Details |
| Funding Scheme : | General Research Fund | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Number : | 14500721 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(English) : | Consumer Responses to Contactless Service Provision by Service Robots Under Contagion Threat | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(Chinese) : | 新冠肺炎感染風險研究—消費者對服務機械人的反應 | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(English) : | Prof Choi, Sungwoo | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : | |||||||||||||||||
| Department : | School of Hotel and Tourism Management | ||||||||||||||||
| Institution : | The Chinese University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||
| E-mail Address : | sungwoochoi@cuhk.edu.hk | ||||||||||||||||
| Tel : | |||||||||||||||||
| Co - Investigator(s) : |
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| Panel : | Business Studies | ||||||||||||||||
| Subject Area : | Business Studies | ||||||||||||||||
| Exercise Year : | 2021 / 22 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fund Approved : | 597,993 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Status : | Completed | ||||||||||||||||
| Completion Date : | 29-2-2024 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Objectives : |
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| Abstract as per original application (English/Chinese): |
As the outbreak of COVID- 19 surged around the world, affecting millions of people, the hospitality sector experienced a sharp decline in consumer spending. Due to lockdown measures, bars, restaurants, and hotels were forced to close (Hall et al., in press). When the COVID-19 curve flattened, some governments slowly started to re-open businesses, including restaurants and hotels. With reopening came many changes in service encounters to keep people safe (both service providers and customers) in the face of the ongoing pathogen threat. In particular, service robots are becoming a significant part of service delivery tasks in the hospitality industry, including cleaning facilities, taking orders at restaurants, and handling check-in processes at a hotel.
It is unclear how consumers are responding to this “new normal” in service delivery, namely contactless services, in which advanced technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence and robots) replace human service providers to minimize direct contact with consumers during service interactions (Henkel et al., in press). How do consumers evaluate contactless service delivery by service robots at a re-opened restaurant or café? More specifically, during/after the COVID-19, how do they perceive service interactions with different types of service robots? And what underlies their reactions?
To address these questions, the current research theorizes that contactless service provision during the coronavirus pandemic triggers consumers’ basic need to be connected with others (e.g., friends and family), which consequently influences their evaluation of humanlike features of service robots. Specifically, we propose that, when the contagion threat (operationalized as the COVID-19 in the current project context) is salient, consumers will evaluate more positively contactless service by humanoid (vs. non-humanoid) service robots because the robots’ humanlike-ness may at least partially satisfy consumers’ need to feel connected with others. We will also explore if this relationship holds (i) with consumers from different cultural backgrounds, and (ii) under different social situations.
In sum, this research will provide important insights into consumer reactions to service robots during/after the coronavirus pandemic, as well as consumer, robot, and contextual factors that affect these reactions. Both lab and field experiments will be conducted to test our theorizing. 新冠肺炎全球肆虐，各國的封關及社交距離措施，影響着數以百萬計人的生活及對各國經濟造成嚴重打擊。其中對酒店，餐飲服務業的影響尤其嚴峻。 儘管疫情逐漸緩和，顧客仍然面對持續的新冠肺炎感染風險，因此酒店及餐飲服務業的營運需要強調顧客安全的重要性。而服務機械人在這方面可以擔當着一個重要的角色，例如在酒店及餐廳進行無人消毒清潔，負責食物下單以及在酒店裏接待旅客入住。 面對着這種非接觸式服務(人工智能及服務機械人代替人與人接觸)普及化，顧客會怎樣評價這種新的服務？他們又怎樣評價不同類型的服務機械人？其背後的原因會是什麼？ 在探討這些問題，本研究推測當人們面對這些非接觸式服務的時候，會激發他們的社交需要(例如渴望與家人及朋友見面)。所以當他們接觸人形化的機械人時，會對他們產生較正面的評價(相比於非人形的機械人)，因為人形化的機械人外型符合了人類追求社交的原始需要。我們亦會探討不同文化背景以及不同社交情況下，人們對機械人的評價會有什麼不同。 總括而言，本研究將會對新冠肺炎疫情下，服務機械人如何影響消費者評價有重要的啟示。本研究將會採取實驗方法來測試以上的推測。 |
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| Realisation of objectives: | Regarding the first objective, we have accomplished 100% of it by examining consumer behavior in the context of contactless service delivery by service robots. We have successfully conducted a field study and multiple online experimental studies to test the consumer responses to robotic services in various contexts (e.g., hotel and restaurant). We were also able to test various manifestation of consumer responses to service delivery by robots, including service evaluation, attitude towards robots, and purchase behavior. Regarding the second objective, we have accomplished 100% of it by demonstrating the mediating role of a social motive in explaining consumer behavior in the context of contactless service delivery by service robots. Through multiple rounds of online experiments, we had measured the social motives in various forms and found these psychological mechanism can at least partly explain how consumers respond to the service delivery by service robots. Regarding the third objective, we also have accomplished 100% of it by testing an individual level factor (i.e., nationality) and a contextual factor (i.e., group composition) that moderates consumer behavior in the context of contactless service delivery by service robots. For the individual-level factor, we have collected data from different countries, including U.S., U.K., and Hong Kong. For the contextual factor, we relied on a scenario-based manipulation of group composition to test its effect. Using a field experiment and online experiments, we were able to draft a decent package of studies and submit it to Annals of Tourism Research, which is one of the top journals in the hospitality and tourism fields, in September 2023. After multiple rounds of revision and resubmission, the manuscript was accepted for publication in March 2024. | ||||||||||||||||
| Summary of objectives addressed: |
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| Research Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| Major findings and research outcome: | In three field and online experimental studies, we demonstrate that consumers are more likely to make indulgent choices in a robotic (vs. interpersonal) service encounter. However, these effects are muted when consumers interact with a humanoid (vs. non-humanoid) service robot because humanlike robots can generate a stronger automated social presence. We found such impact of service encounter type with samples from different nationalities: U.S. and Hong Kong. Moreover, this robotic effect on consumer indulgence is diminished in group consumption (vs. solo) settings where consumers have a lower level of desire for social connections. Our research advances the literature on service robotics by examining a novel unintended consequence of consumer–robot interactions: the likelihood of indulgent choices. Moreover, our work identifies a new underlying mechanism, namely, consumers' situational need to belong (i.e., social affiliation motive). This mechanism explains how robotic service encounters influence consumers' indulgent choices. Finally, our research reveals a boundary condition for the effect of robotic service encounters on solo versus group consumption. Understanding how group composition (solo vs. group) influences a focal consumer's behavior is important because solo consumption is a global tourism trend. While previous investigations have explored diverse factors that influence solo consumers' behavioral intentions, we identify a novel factor: the role of robotic service encounters in solo consumers' preferences for indulgent choices. Together, our findings add to the growing body of literature on indulgence and solo dining. From a managerial lens, understanding the unintended consequences of robotic service encounters will benefit tourism and hospitality firms by providing tailored product offerings. Additionally, our findings call for attention from policymakers and practitioners by showing that the rise of robotic service encounters may result in unintended unhealthy behaviors among consumers. Given the global trend of healthy eating and well-being, we suggest that practitioners may want to leverage humanlike features to service robots to help consumers regulate such unintended acts of indulgence. | ||||||||||||||||
| Potential for further development of the research and the proposed course of action: |
The current research focuses on how the service agent type (humanoid vs. non-humanoid vs. human) influences consumers' indulgent choices. However, special circumstances may present important boundary conditions for this effect. For example, in an extremely crowded restaurant, consumers' social withdrawal tendencies may override the need to belong, and consequently, the agent effect on indulgence may be diminished. Moreover, some individuals might prefer solo dining and thus feel less lonely and have a weaker situational need to belong, thereby demonstrating a pattern opposite to our findings in Study 3.1 More boundary conditions should be explored to ensure the robustness of the service agent's effects on indulgence. We regarded the need to belong as the key underlying mechanism of the agent-type effect on indulgent consumption. However, there may be alternative explanations for this effect. For example, prior research has suggested that food consumption plays a role in impression management. That is, people are motivated to make healthy food choices to achieve a socially desirable image. Given that people tend to experience fewer social concerns about their actions during human–robot interactions due to low levels of mind perceptions, exploring the role of impression management in people's decision-making in robotic service encounters is worthwhile. Culture plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer behaviors, and cross-cultural studies have consistently indicated that Asians exhibit greater sensitivity to social relationships and interactions than Westerners. It is conceivable that Asian tourists and consumers might possess a stronger need for social belonging and engage more extensively in indulgent consumption when encountering robotic services. Further research could examine this intriguing cultural distinction. | ||||||||||||||||
| Layman's Summary of Completion Report: | This research shows that people are more likely to make indulgent choices, like splurging on treats, when they interact with robots instead of humans. However, this tendency is lessened when the robot looks human-like because these robots create a stronger sense of social connection. Additionally, when people are in groups, they tend to indulge less compared to when they are alone, as they feel less need for social interaction. For businesses in tourism and hospitality, understanding how robotic service can influence consumer choices is important for creating better products. Our findings also highlight a potential concern for policymakers: the increasing use of robots in service roles might lead to unhealthy eating habits among consumers. Given the growing focus on healthy living, we suggest that making robots appear more human-like could help encourage better choices among consumers. | ||||||||||||||||
| Research Output | |||||||||||||||||
| Peer-reviewed journal publication(s) arising directly from this research project : (* denotes the corresponding author) |
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| Recognized international conference(s) in which paper(s) related to this research project was/were delivered : |
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| Other impact (e.g. award of patents or prizes, collaboration with other research institutions, technology transfer, etc.): |
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| SCREEN ID: SCRRM00542 |