The Impact of Tourist–Robot Interaction on Tourist Engagement in the Hospitality Industry: A Mixed-Method Study

Service robots have become a topic of interest for tourism and hospitality researchers and practitioners. The success of service robot adoption lies in the effectiveness of tourist–robot interaction. There has been less interest in the performance of tourist–robot interaction, with research related to tourist engagement being particularly scarce. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of relationships, this article examines the impact of tourist–robot interaction on tourist engagement in the hospitality context. A mixed-methods approach is adopted, utilizing grounded theory and structural equation modeling. The findings reveal two types of tourist–robot interaction, emotional (fun and playfulness) and instrumental (convenience and ease of use). Tourist–robot emotional interactions influence tourist engagement by enhancing tourists’ needs satisfaction, tourist emotion, and social bonds with robots. It was found that tourist–robot instrumental interaction positively affects tourist engagement through needs satisfaction and tourist emotion but not social bonds. The findings extend our understanding of human–robot interaction and customer engagement.