PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
COVID-19 has changed many aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry, including technology-oriented and contactless solutions. Despite the increasing number of service companies using robots on their premises, most of the previous attempts and practices of adoption have remained unsuccessful. Prior research hints that socioeconomic factors could influence the successful adoption of these emerging technologies. Nevertheless, these studies ignore the role of profile factors and assume a homogenous response to using robots in service operations during the pandemic. Based on the theory of diffusion of innovation and a sample of 525 participants, this study investigates the differences in customers\' attitudes, their level of involvement, and optimism for service robots as well as their intentions to use service robots in the five main areas of hotel operations (front desk, concierge, housekeeping, room service, and food and beverage) based on five profile factors (age, gender, income level, education, and purpose of trip). MANOVA tests show significant differences in all variables based on demographic factors; male, younger, more educated, higher income, and leisure travelers show more positive attitudes, higher involvement, optimism, and intention to use service robots across various hotel departments. In particular, mean scores were found to be smaller for the traditionally human-oriented functional areas of the hotel operations. We also clustered the participants based on their level of comfort and optimism about using service robots in hotels. Given the rapid changes in the service industry and the increasing adoption of service robots, this paper adds a much-needed contribution to the ongoing research on service robots in the service industry by investigating the impact of profile factors on guests\' behavior towards service robots.
摘要：
COVID-19改变了酒店和旅游业的许多方面，包括面向技术和非接触式解决方案。尽管越来越多的服务公司在其场所使用机器人，以前的大多数尝试和收养做法都没有成功。先前的研究表明，社会经济因素可能会影响这些新兴技术的成功采用。然而，这些研究忽略了轮廓因素的作用,并假设在大流行期间在服务操作中使用机器人的反应是一致的.基于创新扩散理论和525名参与者的样本，这项研究调查了顾客态度的差异，他们的参与程度，以及对服务机器人的乐观态度，以及他们在酒店运营的五个主要领域（前台，礼宾部,家政服务,客房服务,以及食品和饮料)基于五个特征因素(年龄，性别,收入水平,教育,和旅行的目的)。MANOVA检验显示基于人口统计学因素的所有变量存在显着差异；男性，年轻,受过更多的教育，更高的收入，休闲旅行者表现出更积极的态度，更高的参与度，乐观,并打算在酒店各部门使用服务机器人。特别是,对于传统上以人为本的酒店运营功能区，平均得分较小。我们还根据参与者对酒店使用服务机器人的舒适度和乐观程度对参与者进行了分组。鉴于服务行业的快速变化和服务机器人的日益普及，本文通过调查轮廓因素对顾客对服务机器人行为的影响，为服务行业中服务机器人的持续研究增加了急需的贡献。
