Hotel Employees’ Attitude and Acceptance Toward Human-Robot Co-Working Based on the Industry 5.0 Concept

Abstract

The emergence of AI-powered machines and robotics technology has strongly influenced the service industry, especially the hotel business. The effects of their introduction to the work environment on the human workforce have been a subject of much debate. However, practical studies in this regard are relatively limited. Therefore, this study investigates the employees’ attitude and acceptance toward working alongside robots in a sample of employees working in luxury hotels in Yekaterinburg, Russia. This study employed a self-administered questionnaire as the data collection instrument. Two hundred questionnaire forms were distributed. Among them, 167 forms were completed and valid for analysis. Data were analyzed descriptively using IBM SPSS (Version 28). The findings revealed that, although the employees agreed to interact with robots and indicated that robots are helpful, enjoyable, and productive, they also pointed out that robots would control jobs. Besides, the extensive introduction of robots will lead to social issues such as losing contact with humans. The study conclusion has practical implications for hotel managers and can guide further research for academics.