The role of service robots in enhancing customer satisfaction in embarrassing contexts

The widespread integration of service robots in the tourism and hospitality industry has shifted from human-to-human interaction to human-to-robot interaction during service encounters, thereby affecting customer mood and satisfaction. In contrast to previous research on service robots’ tendency to evoke negative emotions, this paper employs three scenario experiments to analyze the effect of service robots in alleviating social anxiety in embarrassing service context, comparing their effects to those of frontline employees. The study results indicate that the utilization of a service robot can result in higher levels of customer satisfaction than interactions with a frontline employee in embarrassing service contexts, with social anxiety serving as a mediating factor. This study concludes with a discussion of the scholarly and managerial implications for the deployment of service robots in the hospitality industry.