Jingwen (Daisy) Huang, IpKin Anthony Wong, Qi Lilith Lian and Huiling Huang
What kind of robotic service do customers prefer when they dine out alone? This study aims to investigate how robotic service type affects solo diners’ attitude toward robotic…
Abstract
Purpose
What kind of robotic service do customers prefer when they dine out alone? This study aims to investigate how robotic service type affects solo diners’ attitude toward robotic service and restaurant revisit intention, through the mediation of rapport. It also examines the moderating effects of the need to belong and restaurant type.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted. Study 1 used a one-factor between-subjects design to test the effect of robotic service type on rapport and solo diners’ responses. Study 2 conducted a 2 (robotic service type: service-delivery vs entertainment) × need to belong quasi-experimental design to examine the moderation of need to belong. Study 3 used a 2 (robotic service type: service-delivery vs entertainment) × 2 (restaurant type: traditional restaurant vs solo-friendly restaurant) factorial between-subjects design to test the moderation of restaurant type. A qualitative study (Study 4) complements the experimental results based on semistructured interviews.
Findings
Entertainment (vs service-delivery) robotic service has a stronger effect on solo diners’ responses, with rapport serving as a mediator. Additionally, solo diners with a heightened need to belong demonstrate an intensified rapport effect when receiving entertainment-oriented robotic service. Furthermore, restaurant type plays a moderating role between robotic service type and consumer responses. For traditional restaurants, solo diners who receive entertainment (vs service-delivery) robotic service tend to form stronger rapport and favorable responses. The results of the qualitative study elucidate and support the hypothesized relationships of the experimental studies.
Practical implications
Restaurant operators could consider offering entertainment-based smart devices that allow solo diners to indulge themselves during the dining encounter. Restaurants could also design environmental cues that can signify a sense of comfort, such as redesigning tables with individual seats for solo diners to enhance their perceptions of shared characteristics among other solo diners in the same space.
Originality/value
This research advances the literature on solo dining and robotic service, by investigating how human–robot interaction can fulfill solo diners’ relatedness goals, as self-determination theory suggests. This inquiry also represents an early attempt in the hospitality literature to empirically examine the influence of robotic service type on consumer responses through the mediation of rapport.
Details
Keywords
IpKin Anthony Wong, Ya Xiao, Zhiwei (CJ) Lin, Danni Sun, Jingwen (Daisy) Huang and Matthew Liu
This paper aims to answer questions pertinent to whether or not services provided by smart hotels are really what customers are looking for, as well as to ascertain what are some…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to answer questions pertinent to whether or not services provided by smart hotels are really what customers are looking for, as well as to ascertain what are some unintended experiences guests may encounter. In essence, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first in the field to acknowledge the paradox of smart service.
Design/methodology/approach
This inquiry adopts a qualitative approach with data-driven from online customer reviews and semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis was undertaken to interpret review comments.
Findings
Results point to a new phenomenon, which is coined as the smartness paradox. In particular, customers on one hand enjoy an array of smart-infused experiences that jointly offer patrons a sense of a futuristic lifestyle. On the other hand, smart devices superimpose a number of hindrances that bring guests dismay and annoyance.
Research limitations/implications
This investigation brings smart service failure to the fore to highlight several key failure themes that could jeopardize the entire operation with debased customers’ satisfaction and loyalty inclination.
Originality/value
The smartness-paradox framework used in the present inquiry entails both approach and avoidance consequences customers enact depending on their smart experiences.