Attitudes toward service robots: analyses of explicit and implicit attitudes based on anthropomorphism and construal level theory

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaoula Akdim ◽  
Daniel Belanche ◽  
Marta Flavián
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
Frontline Service

Purpose Building on both the uncanny valley and construal level theories, the analyses detailed in this paper aims to address customers’ explicit and implicit attitudes toward various service robots, categorized by the degree of their human-like appearance, namely, mechanoids (low human-likeness), humanoids (medium human-likeness) and realistic robots (high human-likeness). Design/methodology/approach The analyses reflect a mixed-method approach, across three studies. A qualitative study uses focus groups to identify consensual attitudes. An experiment measures self-reported, explicit attitudes toward the three categories of robots. Another experiment explores customers’ implicit attitudes (unconscious and unintentional) toward robots, using three implicit association tests. Findings Customers express both positive and negative attitudes toward service robots. The realistic robots lead to both explicit and implicit negative attitudes, suggesting that customers tend to reject these robots in frontline service settings. Robots with lower human-likeness levels generate relatively more positive attitudes and are accepted to nearly the same extent as human employees in hospitality and tourism contexts. Practical implications Because customers reject, both consciously and unconsciously, very human-like robots in service encounters, managers should leverage this key finding, along with the more detailed results, to inform their strategic introduction of robots into hospitality frontline service settings. Originality/value The combined qualitative and quantitative studies specify and clarify customers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward robots with different levels of human-likeness, in the real-world setting of hospitality and tourism services. Such insights can inform continued research into the effects of these service innovations.

scholarly journals Examining Implicit Attitudes towards Exercisers with a Physical Disability

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra D. Dionne ◽  
Heather L. Gainforth ◽  
Deborah A. O’Malley ◽  
Amy E. Latimer-Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Physical Disability ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
People With Physical Disabilities ◽  
Disability Attitudes

Background.Using measures of explicit attitudes, physical activity status has been established as a factor that reduces the stigma able-bodied people hold towards people with physical disabilities. This phenomenon is called the exerciser stereotype. However, whether the exerciser stereotype exists when using measures of implicit attitudes remains unknown.Objective.The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of negative implicit attitudes towards people with physical disabilities and determine whether implicit attitudes towards people with physical disabilities were influenced by the exerciser stereotype.Methods.One hundred able-bodied participants (82 females, 18 males) completed two implicit association tests (IATs): the Disability-Attitudes IAT and the Disability-Activity IAT. The Disability-Attitudes IAT measured implicit attitudes towards people who were not disabled relative to disabled; the Disability-Activity IAT measured attitudes towards people with a physical disability who were active relative to inactive.Results.Results revealed that 83.8% of participants had negative implicit attitudes towards people with a disability. Participants held more positive attitudes towards active versus inactive people with a physical disability.Conclusions.The study findings indicate that the exerciser stereotype exists implicitly and may undermine negative attitudes towards people with physical disabilities.

Modeling the implicit brand: capturing the hidden drivers

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 600-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Vriens ◽  
Alessandro Martins Alves
Keyword(s):  
Durable Goods ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Response Style ◽  
Brand Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Brand Building ◽  
Implicit Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to investigate modeling implicit attitudes as potential drivers of overall brand attitudes and stated behavior and investigate how the results are expected to be different from brand driver models that are based on explicit attitudes. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected via online surveys in five countries across 15 categories with sample sizes for each category/country combination in the range of about N = 1,000. Findings Implicit attitudes result in a higher number of significant effects than their explicit counterparts when used to explain behavioral intentions, brand closeness and brand usage in a multivariate situation with potential 12 brand attitude drivers. The authors also find fewer counter-intuitive effects in the implicit models. The results are consistent across 5 countries and across 15 categories (including CPG products, services and durable goods). They also show that implicit attitudes are less susceptible to response style effects (e.g. social desirability bias). Research limitations/implications The findings have implications for brand building and shopper activation. Further research should look into the impact of using implicit data on finding different brand segmentation and brand mapping results. Practical implications The findings have implications for brand building and shopper activation. Originality/value This paper contributes to the fast-growing field of implicit attitudes. The paper confirms and generalizes previous findings. This is the first paper to the authors’ knowledge that has investigated the impact of implicit attitudes on overall brand attitudes and stated behavior in a multivariate context.

Exploring customers’ attitudes to the adoption of robots in tourism and hospitality

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Abou-Shouk ◽  
Hesham Ezzat Gad ◽  
Ayman Abdelhakim
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Technology Acceptance Model ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
Acceptance Model

Purpose This study aims to explore the factors affecting customers’ attitudes to the adoption of robots in hotels and travel agencies. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling was used to test the extended technology acceptance model based on data collected from 570 customers of hotels and travel agencies. Findings The findings revealed that hotel customers have more positive attitudes to service robots than their peers in travel agencies. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on robots in tourism and responds to the call to investigate customers’ attitudes to the adoption of robots in developing countries.

Prejudice toward immigrants in student and community samples

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily F. Wood ◽  
Monica K. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Community Sample ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigrants ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Causes Of Crime ◽  
Attributional Complexity ◽  
Prejudicial Attitudes

Purpose The number of immigrants in the USA has increased steadily in recent decades. Two studies investigated individual differences that relate to attitudes toward immigrants in student and community samples. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach US university students and a community sampler were surveyed. Findings In both samples, higher scores on attributional complexity were associated with more positive attitudes toward immigrants and individuals who make dispositional attributions for the causes of crime and/or who are higher in faith in intuition tended to have more negative attitudes. Political orientation was a significant predictor in both samples; being more liberal and identifying as a Democrat compared to a Republican was related to more positive attitudes. Higher need for cognition scores were associated with more positive attitudes and higher legal authoritarianism scores were associated with more negative attitudes; however these were only significant predictors in the community sample. Originality/value Prejudicial attitudes toward immigrants can have adverse effects on immigrants in the realms of the legal system, workplace, healthcare, and education.

scholarly journals Investigating the implicit and explicit attitudes of primary school educators in Scotland towards autistic children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eilidh Cage ◽  
Taylor Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Autistic Children ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Autism Knowledge ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
Implicit And Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Cognitive Attitudes

Background: Autistic children are frequently taught in mainstream schools, and it is imperative educators have appropriate knowledge and attitudes towards autism. In Scotland, policy aims for inclusion. However, there are few studies investigating Scottish educator’s knowledge and attitudes towards autism, even though these could be a barrier to inclusion.Aims: This study investigated Scottish educator’s implicit and explicit attitudes towards autistic children. We also aimed to understand the relationships between attitudes, knowledge and experience.Sample: Seventy primary school educators working in Scotland took part, with a mean age of 43. Most were female (n=64) and had on average 12 years’ experience working in schools. Methods: Participants completed a Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), to assess implicit attitudes towards autism. They also completed two explicit attitude measures (openness to autism and cognitive attitudes), and measures of autism knowledge and level of contact.Results: Overall, participants held positive attitudes in explicit and implicit measures. Some participants (24%) expressed negative implicit attitudes. There were correlations between explicit attitudes, age and years of experience, with older, more experienced staff having more negative attitudes. In regression analyses, greater autism knowledge predicted more positive explicit cognitive attitudes towards autistic children.Conclusions: These findings indicate mostly positive attitudes in this sample. Younger educators with less experience may have more positive attitudes, perhaps reflecting societal changes in perceptions of autism. Greater knowledge predicted positive attitudes, suggesting that targeting knowledge may improve attitudes. Scotland’s policies may have the potential to support the effective inclusion of autistic pupils in schools.

scholarly journals The effect of individual differences and repetitive interactions on explicit and implicit attitudes towards robots

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Ciardo ◽  
Davide Ghiglino ◽  
Cecilia Roselli ◽  
Agnieszka Wykowska
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Implicit Associations ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Implicit Measures ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Social Agent ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Explicit Measures

The exploitation of Social Assistive Robotics (SAR) will bring to the emergence of a new category of users, namely experts in clinical rehabilitation, who do not have a background in robotics. The aim of the present study was twofold. First, we were interested in addressing individual differences in the attitudes towards robots this new category of users. The second aim of the study was to investigate whether repetitive interactions with the robot during the SAR intervention would affect attitudes towards robots. To this end, we evaluated both explicit and implicit attitudes towards robots in a group of therapists rehabilitating children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The evaluation took place before they started a SAR intervention (T0), ongoing (T1), and at the end of it (T2). Explicit attitudes were evaluated using self-reported questionnaires, whereas implicit attitudes were operationalized as the perception of the robot as a social partner and implicit associations regarding the concept of “robot”. Results showed that older ages and previous experience with robots were associated with more negative attitudes toward robots and less willingness to perceive the robot as a social agent. Explicit measures did not vary across time, whereas implicit measures were modulated by increased exposure to robots. Specifically, the more the clinicians were exposed to the robot the more the robot was considered a social partner similarly to the human player. Moreover, across time, users’ memory association between the concept of a robot and mechanical attributes became weaker. In conclusion, our results suggest that individual differences towards robots in a group of SAR users play a crucial role in both explicit and implicit attitudes. Moreover, they also suggest that increased exposure to robots modulates implicit but not explicit attitudes.

Assessing the hotel service robot interaction on tourists' behaviour: the role of anthropomorphism

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wen Jia ◽  
Namho Chung ◽  
Jooyoung Hwang
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Service Robot ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hotel Service ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of service robots on hotel visitors' behaviour and to verify the role of anthropomorphism(human likeness) in customer satisfaction with robots.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of 381 respondents was conducted, divided into three types of robots according to the level of anthropomorphism. The research model was thoroughly tested using the PLS-SEM method. Research model was tested thoroughly using the PLS-SEM method.FindingsThis study found that user satisfaction with service robots in a hotel had a positive impact on user satisfaction, attitude towards the hotel and room purchase intention. Moreover, our results showed that users were most likely to accept medium-human likeness robots and least likely to accept high–human likeness robots.Originality/valueThis study proposes influencing factors to be considered when researching hotel service robots, as well as practical suggestions for any hotel intending to use or currently using a service robot.

Extremes of acceptance: employee attitudes toward artificial intelligence

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Lichtenthaler
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Key Driver ◽  
Conceptual Paper

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present paradoxical employee attitudes towards interacting with artificial intelligence (AI). Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper, which builds on prior research, especially on the widely accepted notion of not-invented-here attitudes in technology adoption. Findings Many companies experience barriers in implementing AI owing to negative attitudes among their employees. This paper develops the concept of no-human-interaction attitudes, which describe employees’ preference to collaborate with real humans rather than having virtual colleagues. If they perceive a benefit from voluntarily using AI, however, many employees exhibit positive attitudes, leading to the concept of intelligent-automation attitudes. Jointly, these attitudes lead to the paradox that the same persons may have positive or negative attitudes to AI, depending on the particular situation. Firms need to address these attitudes because the interface of human and AI will be a key driver of competitive advantage in the future. Originality/value The new concepts of negative and positive employee attitudes contribute to our understanding of firms’ success and problems in implementing AI. Moreover, the paradox of negative and positive attitudes among the same employees helps to reconcile partly diverging findings in extant studies. A thorough understanding of the roots of these employee attitudes, along with several examples, further provides immediate starting points for actively influencing these attitudes in practice.

The impact of mobile marketing initiatives on customers’ attitudes and behavioural outcomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyaneshwar Singh Kushwaha ◽  
Shiv Ratan Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Sampling Method ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Mobile Marketing ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Measurement Validation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine customers’ behavioural outcomes based on the actual attitudinal responses of mobile marketing initiatives. Design/methodology/approach A total of 764 usable responses was included through a non-probability convenient sampling method. The data used in the study gathered from mobile users of 37 cities from nine states across India. The analysis of moment structures 22.0 and SmartPLS 3.0 statistical programmes were used for measurement validation and to test the structural model. Findings The study indicated that mobile marketing had a more significant effect on customers’ negative attitudes and followed by on positive attitudes. Despite the strong significant effect on customers’ negative attitudes, it does not display more significant effect on negative behavioural outcomes. Finally, the study suggested that customers’ positive attitudes display more favourable behavioural outcomes of mobile marketing initiatives. Practical implications The paper would help the mobile marketers and advertisers to understand the impact of mobile marketing initiatives on customers’ attitudes and behavioural outcomes and how it can be managed to ensure the higher level of adoption and acceptance. Originality/value The results of the analysis indicated that when the users have favourable attitudes of mobile marketing initiatives, it can be highly effective in triggering of favourable behavioural outcomes.

scholarly journals Robots in service experiences: negotiating food tourism in pandemic futures

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesc Fusté-Forné ◽  
Stanislav Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
Tourism Services ◽  
Service Experiences

PurposeThis research discusses the role of service robots in gastronomic and dining experiences in a post–coronavirus disease (COVID) world.Design/methodology/approachThe research note draws on secondary data to analyse the use of robots as an important mechanism to address the impacts of global disease outbreaks on the food industry, as related to hospitality and tourism.FindingsHospitality and tourism services are highly affected by the current travel bans, lockdowns and health-related rules that have emerged to manage the current pandemic (COVID-19). This research showcases the role of service robots in food encounters in hospitality and tourism as agents that contribute to safe and innovative experiences.Originality/valueThis research note explores how the use of robots in tourism futures will not only transform food experiences, but it is also critical to sustainable development of communities and destinations in a future that will continuously have to deal with disease outbreaks and pandemics with continued travel mobilities.

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