Effects of Resistance Barriers to Service Robots on Alternative Attractiveness and Intention to Use

Abstract

This study examined the effect of resistance barriers on alternative attractiveness of service robots and intention to use to explain the effect of innovation resistance against such robots on customer behavior. An online survey was conducted with South Korean customers who had used hotel rooms in the past year. This study tested its hypotheses with partial least squares–structural equation modeling. The results indicate that usage barriers related to customers’ familiarity with use and tradition as well as image barriers caused by psychological instability and decreased alternative attractiveness. However, the value and risk barriers based on technological level had no significant effect on alternative attractiveness. The results show that alternative attractiveness increases intention to use; however, alternative attractiveness affected by resistance barriers decreases intention to use. This study broadens the research scope by applying the innovation resistance theory to prior service robot literature with pro-innovation bias. Hospitality managers can refer to these results to design service environments that can lower the resistance barrier against using service robots.

Factors affecting innovation resistance of fast-food employees’ usage intention of robots: an integrative perspective

“…Previous investigations have revealed that VB is linked to user behavior related to digitization initiatives and their resistance. Similar to other barriers, several studies have demonstrated an alliance between VB and user intentions, notably in the context of fitness apps' purchase behavior (Chakraborty et al, 2022), MOOC (Ma and Lee, 2019), mobile payment (Ghosh, 2022), and service robots (Lee and Kim, 2022). Scholars contend that VB hampers the use of products in various industries such as hotels, information technology, and banking (Khanra et al, 2020).…”

“…This has occurred because of changes affecting existing societal norms and consumer values associated with adopting new technology (Ram and Sheth, 1989). As part of the psychological barrier, there is the traditional barrier, it would be impossible for any new product to be accepted by consumers, whose current certainty systems would skirmish with new technology (Lee and Kim, 2022). As such, consumers' psychological states determine traditional barriers and the fact that smart technology has a "short shelf life " and "low satisfaction" (Sadiq et al, 2021), in contrast to traditional technology.…”

Examining the Impact of Frontline Service Robots Service Competence on Hotel Frontline Employees from a Collaboration Perspective

“…Accordingly, the authors emphasized that FLEs and FLSRs should collaborate to reduce customer concerns. FLSR implementation in the tourism industry changes the overall service experience for customers [34,50]. Since customers are habituated to FLE services, they perceive the FLSR service process as inconvenient and complex [34].…”

“…FLSR implementation in the tourism industry changes the overall service experience for customers [34,50]. Since customers are habituated to FLE services, they perceive the FLSR service process as inconvenient and complex [34]. This creates a psychological barrier to change for customers, which requires FLE-FLSR collaboration in the service workplace to mitigate customer concerns [34].…”

“…Especially in Asian tourism workplaces such as South Korea, where employees are relationship-oriented [31], recognizing and trusting colleagues is an important organizational value [32]. South Korea is a global leader in workplace automation [33], and FLSRs are quickly being implemented in tourism workplaces [34]. Since working with FLSRs is an unfamiliar change for employees, understanding the psychological mechanisms of employees' perception of FLSRs as coworkers is an important issue for relationship-oriented Korean tourism organizations.…”