Family-customer happiness and its impact on customer citizenship behavior: A study of parent–child consumption in robot restaurants

Academic research on ways to promote family consumers' happiness in technology-enabled service contexts is limited. Based on the value co-creation concept and emotional contagion theory, this study focuses on parent-child consumption and develops a theoretical model of the relationship between customer–robot interaction experience, family emotional bonding, customer happiness, and citizenship behavior in robot restaurants. Further insights into the model were obtained by content analysis of 374 online customer reviews, and the model was tested by a questionnaire survey of 515 family customers. The results of structural model analysis show that customer-perceived child delight and customer engagement in robot services have direct and indirect effects on customer happiness through the enhancement of family emotional bonding. Customer happiness positively affects customer citizenship behavior and mediates the relationship between family emotional bonding and customer citizenship behavior. The study provides guidance for using robotics to promote the happiness of customers and prosperity of restaurants.