ABSTRACT
Purpose - This study aims to simultaneously examine the influence of demographic. psychographic and situational factors on consumers' willingness to pay a price premium (WTPp) for robotic restaurants and to profile market segments based on consumers WTPp levels (positive, neutral and negative). Design/methodology/approach - Using an online survey, the data were gathered from a sample of 897 Thai consumers who had dined at a robotic restaurant in the past 12 months. Structural equation modeling, chi-square tests and the one-way analysis of variance were used for data analysis. Findings - Demographic (gender, age, income and marital status), psychographic (perceived advantages/disadvantages, personal innovativens and personality traits) and situational factors (perceived health risk and self-protection behavior) significantly influence consumers' WTPp for robotic restaurants. The positive price premium group differs significantly from the neutral and negative price premium groups in terms of demographic, psychographic and situational profiles. Practical implications - The findings of this study help restaurateurs target the correct customers and set up appropriate price fences to safeguard profits and maximize return on investment. Originality/value - This study contributes to the literature on technology-based services and hospitality by heeding the calls made by lvanov and Webster (2021) and providing much-nwded empirical evidence of possible changes in consumers' WTPp for robot-delivered services in restaurants due to COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Purpose>The purpose of this study is to investigate the robotic restaurant experience of travellers around the world and understand the components of robotic restaurant experience.Design/methodology/approach>Travellers who had experienced a robotic restaurant were purposefully selected as a sample group for the study. As the robotic restaurants are limited around the world, multiple case study method has been chosen to gather richer data. A user-generated content technique which is a form of qualitative case study method has been benefited to gather data from travellers’ reviews.Findings>The results reveal a model of components of robotic restaurant experience that include six main themes: attraction for kids, robotic system, memorable experience, ambience related attributes, food related attributes (economic value and gastronomic aspects) and deficiencies (in robotic system, in ambience related attributes and in food related attributes).Originality/value>This paper is one of the first to investigate the robotic restaurant experience of travellers around the world. Moreover, it contributes to the research on restaurant experience and offers a model of components of the robotic restaurant experience.