Robot or human? Manoeuvring switching intention after robot service failure

Area of Science:

• Tourism Management
• Human-Robot Interaction
• Service Science

Background:

• Robot service failures can impact tourist satisfaction and loyalty.
• Understanding tourist behavior after service disruptions is crucial for service providers.
• The role of psychological factors like trust and tolerance in service recovery is increasingly important.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate tourists' intentions to switch to human service following a robot service failure.
• To examine the moderating effects of the zone of tolerance and trust in technology on this switching intention.
• To apply the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative research approach utilizing a retrospective survey.
• Data collected from 330 valid tourist samples recalling robot service failures.
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) employed for data analysis.

Main Results:

• No significant direct effect was found for tourists switching to human service after robot failure.
• The zone of tolerance and trust in technology significantly moderated tourist satisfaction concerning severity and controllability of the failure.
• The reliability aspect of robot service failure was not found to be moderated by the studied factors.

Conclusions:

• Tourist switching intention post-robot failure is complex and not solely dependent on the failure event.
• Psychological factors like tolerance and trust play a critical role in shaping customer satisfaction and subsequent behavior.
• The study contributes to understanding human-robot interaction dynamics and service recovery in the tourism industry.