Gender characteristics of service robots can influence customer decisions

(Press-News.org) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The hospitality industry can leverage the gender characteristics of service robots to influence customers’ decisions, according to new research from a team in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.

Service robots with characteristics typically associated with males may be more persuasive when interacting with women who have a low sense of power, according to the researchers. The team also found that “cute” features in the design of robots — such as big eyes and raised cheeks — may reduce the effect of portrayed robot gender on persuasiveness, as male and female customers responded similarly to robots with these “cute” features.

Lavi Peng, doctoral candidate; Anna Mattila, Marriott Professor of Lodging Management; and Amit Sharma, Edward Friedman and Stuart Mann Professor of Hospitality Management — all at Penn State — led this research. Their findings were published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

“Robots can be designed or programed to have human-like features like names, voices and body shapes, which portray gender,” Mattila said. “In addition to robot gender, a consumer’s sense of power — how individuals perceive their ability to influence others or their environment — can also affect how successful a service robot can be in making recommendations.”

The researchers conducted two studies to find how the gender portrayed in service robots could influence customers’ decisions.

The first study surveyed 239 people who were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were asked to first rate their sense of power before imagining visiting a new restaurant and receiving a menu recommendation for a breakfast burrito from a service robot. Service robots depicted in the study were the same except for the use of gray or pink colors to portray male or female genders, respectively. After receiving a menu recommendation, participants then rated the robot’s persuasiveness.

“We found women with a low sense of power were more prone to accept a male robot’s recommendations,” Peng said. “For men with a low sense of power, we found the difference was less obvious. Based on our findings, consumers with high power tend to make their own judgement without relying on societal expectations. They are more confident and want to make decisions based off their own judgement.”

The researchers said restaurants could leverage these findings when deciding what types of service robots to use, such as using “male” robots to recommend new menu items, as the results suggested robots with characteristics typically associated with males can have a greater influence on customer decisions.

Hotels could also leverage these findings when deciding which gender characteristics to use in robots that persuade customers to upgrade their rooms, according to the researchers.

“Upselling and upgrading are all about persuasion, and results of our study suggested robots with male characteristics could be effective,” Peng said. “If a business knows its customer is female, it may want to consider using a robot with different gender characteristics than it would with a male customer.”

The second study investigated how businesses could mitigate gender stereotypes in robot design — or lessen the effect of a “male” robot’s influence on customers with a low sense of power.

Because the findings in the first study showed that portrayed gender in robots primarily affected customers with a low sense of power, the researchers recruited 156 university students in the United States. The researchers said prior research demonstrated that students typically hold subordinate positions or rely on faculty members who have authority over their educational outcomes, meaning they represent a low-power demographic.

To alter the gender portrayed in robots during the second study, the researchers used an iPad display showing different gendered facial features that topped a Bear Robotics Servi robot, which does not have any typical human-like features of its own. These facial features had “cute” designs, including round faces and big eyes. After being introduced to and interacting with the robot, participants completed a computer-based scenario, evaluating the robot’s recommendation for avocado toast.

“Both male and female customers responded similarly to both the male and female robot designs,” Peng said. “For businesses that want to mitigate gender stereotypes, they can consider using a cute design for their robots.”

The Marriott Foundation supported this research.

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