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The effects of gender and personality of robot assistants on customers’ acceptance of their service

Author

Listed:
  • Santiago Forgas-Coll

    (University of Barcelona)

  • Ruben Huertas-Garcia

    (University of Barcelona)

  • Antonio Andriella

    (Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial CSIC-UPC)

  • Guillem Alenyà

    (Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial CSIC-UPC)

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has stimulated the use of social robots in front-office services. However, some initial applications yielded disappointing results, as managers were unaware of the level of development of the robots’ artificial intelligence systems. This study proposes to adapt the Almere model to estimate the technological acceptance of service robots, which express their gender and personality, whilst assisting consumers. A 2 × 2 (two genders vs. two personalities) between-subjects experiment was conducted with 219 participants. Model estimation with Structural Equation Modelling confirmed seven out of eight hypotheses, and all four scenarios were estimated with Ordinary Least Squares, showing that robot gender and personality affected their technological acceptance.

Suggested Citation

  • Santiago Forgas-Coll & Ruben Huertas-Garcia & Antonio Andriella & Guillem Alenyà, 2022. "The effects of gender and personality of robot assistants on customers’ acceptance of their service," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 16(2), pages 359-389, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:svcbiz:v:16:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11628-022-00492-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11628-022-00492-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vishwakarma, Laxmi Pandit & Singh, Rajesh Kr & Mishra, Ruchi & Demirkol, Denizhan & Daim, Tugrul, 2024. "The adoption of social robots in service operations: A comprehensive review," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Mathieu Lajante & David Remisch & Nikita Dorofeev, 2023. "Can robots recover a service using interactional justice as employees do? A literature review-based assessment," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(1), pages 315-357, March.
    3. K Akdim & Luis V. Casaló, 2023. "Perceived value of AI-based recommendations service: the case of voice assistants," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(1), pages 81-112, March.
    4. Mark Anthony Camilleri & Ciro Troise, 2023. "Live support by chatbots with artificial intelligence: A future research agenda," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(1), pages 61-80, March.

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