Understanding service robot adoption and resistance from a service provider perspective

Abstract

With the advancement of AI technology, service robots are gradually becoming a part of our daily lives. Many existing studies have focused on the Pre-Adoption of service robots from the consumer's perspective. However, there is a lack of research from the provider's perspective, as well as studies integrating both Pre-Adoption and Post-Adoption phases. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing service providers' Pre-Adoption and Post-Adoption of service robots, and identify the elements impeding these processes. To achieve this goal, we conducted a qualitative study based on YouTube interview videos with 31 service providers who actively use service robots in their work. The analysis of these interviews identified 18 topics, which were categorized into four dimensions: Pre-Adoption, Post-Adoption, Reasons for Adoption, and Reasons against Adoption. This categorization allowed us to understand the factors influencing adoption and resistance at each stage of the service robot adoption process. These results have significant implications for buyers and operators who want to implement service robots in practice, as well as for robot suppliers who design and develop service robots.