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Introduction
The robots are coming. Industry reports estimate that the market size for service robotics is likely to grow from $37 billion in 2020 to over $102 billion by 2025 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.6% (Markets and Markets, 2020). While robots have been utilized for years behind the scenes across assembly lines, warehouses and order fulfillment centers (Petro, 2020), socially assistive service robots have increasingly become an integral part of frontline service operations across a variety of industry sectors including healthcare (Čaić et al., 2018), hospitality (Fuentes-Moraleda et al., 2020) and retail (Bertacchini et al., 2017), both replacing and/or working alongside frontline service staff.
While the reality of working side-by-side with robots may still feel a little far-fetched, both industry experts and academics have started to address the impact of robotization on the human workforce and how human employees might react working together with robot colleagues, especially as robots move toward more interpersonal relationships with increasing artificial intelligence (AI) and human-like embodiment. Prior research suggests that employees' collaboration with technology is key for a company's success (Huang and Rust, 2017). On the one hand, employees profit from enhancement through intelligent technologies in crucial parts of businesses, like the ability to communicate with customers, store and analyze customer data (Rust and Huang, 2014). On the other hand, intelligent technology might be perceived as threatening and competitive for employees (Jörling et al., 2019). A recent YouGov poll shows that a majority of men and women are not at ease with the idea of collaborating with a robot (Ranosa, 2019). However, these findings contradict another survey by Oracle that revealed that nine out of ten workers would trust a robot coworker (Douglas, 2018). Recent research underlines the necessity to investigate and actively define conditions for the coexistence of AI-enabled technologies such as service robots and human employees (Huang and Rust, 2018).
To fill this gap, the purpose of this research is to investigate frontline service employees' (FSEs’) perceptions of collaborative service robots (CSRs) by identifying the appraisal process of human employee–robot interactions, which, in turn, affects employees' willingness to collaborate (WTC) with service robots. Therefore, our research aims to answer the following research question: What factors influence service employees' willingness...