Quality (philosophy)

Marketing

Robot

Philosophy

Neuroscience

Service (business)

Social psychology

Cognition

Tourism

Operating system

Social change

Hospitality industry

Economics

Computer science

Uncanny valley

Social competence

Business

Human services

Service quality

Desk

Psychology

Humanoid robot

Applied psychology

Hospitality

Political science

Epistemology

Artificial intelligence

Economic growth

Perception

Competence (human resources)

Tourism Management

The rise of humanoid robots in hospitality services accelerates the need to understand related consumer reactions. Four scenario-based experiments, building on social presence and social cognition theories, examine how humanoid robots (vs. self-service machines) shape consumer service perceptions vis-à-vis concurrent presence/absence of human staff. The influence of consumers' need for human interaction and technology readiness is also examined. We find that anthropomorphizing service robots positively affects expected service quality, first-visit intention, willingness to pay, as well as increasing warmth/competence inferences. However, these effects are contingent on the absence of human frontline staff, explained by viewing anthropomorphism as a relative concept. Humanoid robots increase psychological risk, but this poses no threat to expected service quality when consumers' need for human interaction is controlled for. Additionally, we show that a humanoid robot's effect on expected service quality is positive for all but low technology readiness levels. Further implications for theory/practice are discussed.

Check-in at the Robo-desk: Effects of automated social presence on social cognition and service implications