Research Insights: In the valley of the uncanny

As the deployment of robots becomes increasingly commonplace in hospitality settings, there is growing concern over the potential for fear and discomfort individuals, both customers and employees, may experience when interacting and collaborating with those robots. Specifically, at what point does harmonious collaboration with automatons “robophilia” tip over to fear, or “robophobia”?

Dan Jin, assistant professor in the department of international hospitality and service innovation, explores this topic in an article, “Navigating the spectrum of human-robot collaboration: Addressing robophobia-robophilia in the hospitality industry,” published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.

Drawing on cognitive science and psychology, Jin designed and conducted three studies employing hypothetical settings featuring an individual staying at a hotel where an AI robot for room service had recently been introduced. The studies explored the transition from an initial state of robophilia to the development of robophobia in various scenarios, by measuring participants’ responses to those scenarios.

In each case, robophobia acted as a mediator between the positive factors of liking robot self-consciousness and anthropomorphic facial expressions and the shift towards embarrassment, customer outrage, and employee sabotage intentions during joint robot interactions. As Jin writes, the results enrich “our understanding of complex human-robot dynamics, shedding light on robophobia’s mediating role within the context of service disruptions.”

The implications of Jin’s study are clear. If managers are to successfully integrate robots into the hospitality industry, they must take care to strike the right balance between automation and personalized service.

View paper in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, Navigating the spectrum of human-robot collaboration: Addressing robophobia-robophilia in the hospitality industry.