Understanding service sabotage in employee-robot collaboration: The role of mind perception and collective psychological ownership

Abstract

With the increasing prevalence of employees collaborating with robots, this study examines the negative service implications of such collaborations in the hospitality context. Drawing on theories of mind perception, self-identity, and psychological ownership, this research investigates how and when employee-robot collaboration leads to service sabotage. Data were collected from 332 frontline employees in the hospitality sector who collaborate with robots during customer service. The results show that a higher extent of employee-robot collaboration increases perceived agency of robots, which in turn heightens the employees’ perception of self-identity threat. This self-identity threat leads employees to engage in deviant behaviors like service sabotage. Employees’ collective psychological ownership was found to buffer the impact of self-identity threat on service sabotage. The findings of the study offer important implications for researchers and hospitality managers in designing effective employee-robot teams and mitigating the negative consequences of hybrid service systems. • Employee-robot collaboration enhances perceived agency of robots. • Perceived agency leads to employees perceiving threat to self-identity. • Threat to self-identity causes service sabotage. • Collective psychological ownership reduces the impact of self-identity threat on service sabotage.