Service Robot Collaboration in the Hotel Industry from a Front-Line Employee Perspective: An Application of the UTAUT Framework

Technological advancements often engender a state of trepidation and skepticism within the workforce, compelling a mandate for managerial intervention to assuage such uneasiness. As such, this dissertation conducts an examination into the nascent paradigm of human-robot collaboration, with an analytical emphasis on the sector of hospitality, particularly scrutinizing the attitudes and interactions of frontline employees within the United States domain. Adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework four research questions were developed: What factors affect the behavior intention of frontline employees to accept service robots in hotels? Which factors have the greater effect on the behavior intention of frontline employees to accept service robots in hotels? How does a frontline employee’s attitude towards robots affect their behavior intention to collaborate with robots? Which moderators affect the attitudes of frontline employees to accept service robots in hotels? Addressing these questions, this dissertation applied quantitative investigations using a survey. 255 participants were recruited in two ways: 1) using the Prolific Online Platform and 2) using purposeful sampling of hotel frontline employees in the US.

An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to confirm the constructs dimensionalities followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm the model fit. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to confirm relationships amongst the variables. The SEM analysis results supported the hypothesized model demonstrating that a) performance expectancy affects frontline employees’ attitude toward robots thus influencing their behavioral intention b) effort expectancy affects frontline employees’ attitude toward robots thus influencing their behavioral intention and c) social influence affects frontline employees’ attitude towards robots thus influencing their behavioral intention.

Additionally, this dissertation examined the potential impact of moderators; age and gender on performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence but found no significant impact on the research model. These findings address the gaps in the literature regarding robot collaboration from the perspective of frontline employees, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of human-robot collaboration within the hotel sector. Moreover, practitioners and researchers are provided with practical implications regarding technology acceptance and organizational behavior.