Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-24-2024

Publication Title

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

Volume

15

Issue

5

First page number:

1

Last page number:

34

Abstract

Purpose: Service robots are increasingly prevalent in the hospitality industry. While studies have explored the concept of service robot risk awareness (SRRA)– an employee’s perception of service robots posing a threat to human labor– the impact of SRRA on robot abuse and its emotional mechanism through which it affects employees remains unclear. This research leverages emotional appraisal theory to investigate the mediating role of fear of robots in the relationship between SRRA and robot abuse. Additionally, considering the influential role of leadership in shaping emotional appraisal, this study examines the moderating impact of transformational leadership.

Design/Methodology/Approach: To test the proposed model, time-lagged survey data were collected from 283 employees working under 54 leaders in 18 hotels in China. The model was analyzed using multilevel modeling in Mplus 7.3.

Findings: At the individual level, SRRA indirectly increases robot abuse through the mediation of fear of robots. However, there is a cross-level moderation: the indirect relationship is alleviated when leaders exhibit high levels of transformational leadership.

Originality/Value: This study pioneers the concept of robot abuse in hospitality and tourism settings. It extends emotional appraisal theory by highlighting the significant mediating role played by fear of robots. Furthermore, demonstrating how transformational leadership can mitigate the effects of SRRA offers valuable insights for leadership selection and training to facilitate the successful implementation of service robots.

Keywords

Service robot risk awareness (SRRA); Robot abuse; Fear of robots; Transformational leadership; Multilevel modeling

Disciplines

Hospitality Administration and Management | Technology and Innovation

File Format

pdf

File Size

3399 KB

Language

English

Permissions

© Emerald Publishing Limited. This AAM is provided for your own personal use only. It may not be used for resale, reprinting, systematic distribution, emailing, or for any other commercial purpose without the permission of the publisher.

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Publisher Citation

Cass Shum, Hyounae (Kelly) Min, Jie Sun, Heyao (Chandler) Yu, Zhaoli He; Kicking the robots: the roles of transformational leadership and fear on service robot risk awareness and robot abuse relationship. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology 5 December 2024; 15 (5): 934–946. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1108/JHTT-12-2023-0414

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