Gendered Human–Robot Interactions in Services

Bibliographic Data

ID21199541
AuthorsSantiago Forgas‐coll (0000-0003-2288-3716, Universitat de Barcelona, corresponding author), Rubén Huertas-García (0000-0001-6272-132X, Universitat de Barcelona), Antonio Andriella (0000-0002-6641-6450, Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial), Guillem Alenyà (0000-0002-6018-154X, Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial)
Year2023
Volume15
Issue11
Pages1791-1807
Publication date2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Social Robotics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1875-4791 • E-ISSN: 1875-4805
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12369-023-01035-8
OpenAlexW4385812636
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited85

The outbreak of Covid-19 precipitated the use of service robots in customer-facing services as a replacement for employees to avoid human-to-human contact. However, this development has not resolved the debate as to whether robots should be characterized with gender attributes or simply be genderless. This study explores whether endowing a robot with gender attributes makes it more acceptable as a service provider among stated men and women. To this end, an experiment was conducted at a public fair in which a gendered robot simulated the provision of a service to customers, which consisted of offering them advice, hints, and messages of encouragement to help complete a eudaemonic puzzle. A parsimonious version of the Almere model was used to estimate acceptance of the technology. The findings reveal that for both stated men and women, the main drivers for accepting the female-coded robot are perceived usefulness and social influence, although women attach greater importance to social influence. For the male-coded robot, perceived usefulness and social influence are the main arguments for women, while for men they are enjoyment, perceived usefulness and, negatively, ease of use. In addition, different indirect effects between stated sexes are also identified. In summary, men and women consider different factors when accepting robots of each gender

Business · Human–robot interaction · Mobile robot · Robot · Robot control · Robotics · Service robot · Social robot · AI in Service Interactions · Applied Psychology · Computer Science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Artificial Intelligence · Marketing

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