The Role of Intrinsic Motivations on Customers' Service Robot Use Experience

Reliance on technology, such as service robots, has become more prevalent in the hotel industry. Even though more hotels plan to incorporate service robots in addition to human employees, customers' readiness to use a service robot is still puzzling. Customers' intrinsic motivations play a critical role in adopting new technology. This study explores the effects of customers' motivations on their positive and negative responses. Specifically, this study investigates the overall relationships among customers' autonomy needs, competence needs, relatedness needs, perceived eeriness, trust, and service robot use intentions. Results identify different effects of customers' needs for autonomy and relatedness on perceived eeriness and trust, which show effects on service robot use intentions. Interestingly, customers' needs for competence did not show any effect on perceived eeriness or trust. The findings of this study contribute to service robot literature and provide strategies for adopting service robots in the hotel industry.