Service robots or human staff: How social crowding shapes tourist preferences |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, Tangzhou Rd. 1, Zhuhai, China;2. Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, Macau, China;1. College of Tourism and Service Management, Nankai University, Tianjin, China;2. School of Tourism Management, Tangjiawan, Zhuhai Campus, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China |
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| Abstract: | Service providers in tourism and hospitality are beginning to welcome robots as a customer service option. Given this trend, it is important to explore the factors driving tourists' willingness to adopt such new technology. This study focuses on the role of crowding, an environmental factor widely observed in destinations susceptible to over-tourism, in shaping tourists' willingness to adopt service robots. Based on one survey and two experiments, the present research demonstrates that a destination which is more (vs. less) crowded generally motivates tourists to favor robot-provided services rather than those from human staff. Furthermore, findings reveal that this pattern manifests because more (vs. less) social crowding reduces tourists’ motivation to interact with others, as evidenced by social withdrawal tendency. |
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| Keywords: | Service robots Crowding Over-tourism Social withdrawal tendency Experiment |
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