Customers’ Intentions to Use Restaurants with Robot Waiters: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

Abstract Service robots are growing to solve industrial labor shortages; however, how customers respond to robot waiters remains unclear. This study aims to better understand restaurant robot waiters’ acceptance and continuous use. A survey was disseminated using social media networks and QR codes on location. From the 1070 responses received over 2 months, 415 were validated and proceeded with data analysis. Maximum likelihood estimation technique/CB-SEM was applied to assess the conceptual model. All underlying assumptions have been checked and successfully validated. The results show that only 52.6% of respondents visited a restaurant with robot waiters. The findings confirm that innovativeness, enjoyment, and hygienic handling positively influence the behavioral intention to continuous use. The positive influence of trust, risk, and willingness to pay more upon attitude were not supported. Applying an extended TAM produced novel and valuable insights on robot waiter acceptance. A new food safety construct under the TAM model was successfully added. Restaurant managers are suggested to increase the number of customers via an intensive and diversified advertising strategy and improve the dining experience by investing in more sophisticated robots in terms of the look and tasks performed.