SERVICE ROBOT ADOPTION AMONG EMPLOYEES: A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

This study examines the adoption of service robots by fast-food restaurant employees. Adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study proposes four determinants of intention to use: performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC). The role of culture was also considered to examine its role in moderating the influencing factors. The data was collected from Malaysian fast-food restaurant employees and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Smart-PLS software. The findings showed that intention to use service robots is primarily influenced by performance expectancy and social influence. Additionally, culture also has a significant effect as moderating factor on the relationship between social influence and intention to use service robots in a fast-food restaurant setting. Lastly, a discussion on the contributions and implications are presented.

Employees’ challenge-hindrance appraisals toward STARA awareness and competitive productivity: a micro-level case

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of restaurant employees’ challenge-hindrance appraisals toward smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and algorithms (STARA) awareness on individual competitive productivity (ICP) and explore the mediating roles of employees’ work engagement and organizational commitment on the relationship between challenge-hindrance appraisals and ICP. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through an online survey. One hundred and ninety employees who worked at full-time and non-management positions in the USA quick-service restaurants participated. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for the data analysis. Findings The study identified that restaurant employees’ challenge appraisals toward STARA awareness positively influenced ICP. This relationship is positively mediated by employees’ work engagement. Practical implications This study makes practical contributions to human resource practices in restaurants. Employees’ challenge appraisals toward STARA awareness transmit the job insecurity stressor to a higher level of ICP. Restaurant managers should provide employees with adequate resources and support for non-management employees’ professional competency growth. Quick-service restaurants can enjoy a competitive advantage in the market by enhancing employees’ CP. Originality/value This study enriches the literature on the CP model, cognitive appraisal theory and person-environment fit theory. The study investigated employees’ challenge and hindrance appraisals toward emerging STARA awareness and emphasized their distinct characteristics to drive ICP in the quick-service restaurant sector.

Does National Culture Matter? Restaurant Employees’ Workplace Humor and Job Embeddedness

The ability to retain employees is a tenacious phenomenon in the restaurant workplace. Focusing on job embeddedness (JE) as possible explanatory factor in the application of the broaden-and-build theory and the social exchange theory, this study assesses the relationships among restaurant employees’ workplace humor, perceived workplace fun, perceived workplace aggression, and organizational JE (OJE). It examines to what extent these relationships vary across contexts, depending on national culture. A structural modeling analysis of data from 540 employees in restaurants in the United States and China provides broad support for our hypothesis: Workplace fun is positively associated with restaurant employees’ OJE while only coworker aggression is negatively related to employees’ OJE. Restaurant employees’ use of affiliative humor and aggressive humor is positively related to perceived workplace fun and negatively associated with perceived workplace aggression. Furthermore, national culture moderates the relationships between affiliative humor and perceived workplace aggression, aggressive humor and perceived workplace fun, as well as between workplace fun and OJE. Our findings contribute to clarifying the dynamics between perceptions of certain organizational factors for understanding when employees may develop OJE. The implication is that restaurant companies with international operations can foster OJE by placing various levels of emphasis on types of humor, workplace fun, and workplace aggression, in societies where individuals perceive these variables differently.