Accelerated by technological advancement and stiffer competition, the restaurant industry has been adopting the latest methods of doing things. The rising reputation of the self-service technology (SST) and gains accrued to both customers and hoteliers, diminishes the significance of personal service in the industry. Players in the industry are embracing these technologies not only to ensure survival but also to improve competitive edge and profitability (Kucukusta, Heung and Hui, 2014). The successful adoption of these new technologies in the restaurant industry can largely be attributed to the customer acceptability due to sufficient satisfaction of their needs. For instance, according to 2018 American customer satisfaction index (ACSI) restaurant report, the restaurant industry was rated 79 out of 100 points (Chung and Cakmak, 2018). This figure represents 2% increment, from 2017. Americans are spending more to dine out and seemingly appreciating the experience more, largely due to new technologies. This paper attempts to analyze previous literature relating to consumer acceptance of automated service technology in the restaurant industry.
Literatures
According to Ivanov, Webster and Berezina (2017), the industrial revolution prepared the way for technological advancement which consequently entered various industries including service industry. For instance, vending machines, conveyors and automatic teller machines (ATM) are classical examples of early adoption of technology. In the restaurant industry, technologies provided opportunities for service automation. As a result, technologies such as artificial intelligence, service automation, and robots are embraced in the hospitality, tourism and travel industries as well. These technologies provide numerous opportunities to various industries such as to improve their operations and productivity, deliver consistent product quality and transfer some of the service delivery processes to the customers (Ko, 2017: Wei, Torres and Hua, 2016). Making consumers a component of the service delivery process not only does it guarantee them the quality of services but it also, cultivates loyalty enhancing the brand identity in the industry.
Continued development of communication and information technologies has led to the sustained improvement of customer experience and self-efficiency. Self-efficiency in that, customers do not queue to be attended by staff; they can self-service themselves reducing tie wastage and enhance their experience (Kim and Qu, 2014). For instance, McDonald's the world’s largest restaurant chain is investing heavily in technology, adding self-service kiosk to its outlets. Through ‘create your taste’ touchscreen, customers can make virtual orders according to their specifications (Chung and Cakmak, 2018). The touchscreen allows customers to browse through the menu and adjust various items and thus create their own taste. In addition, customers can order through mobile, customize their meals in different ways and pay in different pay. Although such robots do not have an equivalent human capacity, their ability to correctly perform intended tasks puts the restaurant industry on the forefront in the utilization of technology.
According to Ko (2017), restaurant and hospitality industries have increased attention to the evolution of self-service technologies. Even though human interactions are a valued experience in the service industry, the industry understands that changes are inevitable in the course of existence. The benefits of adopting self-service technologies can reduce the costs of labor, create differentiation and improve operational efficiency. Consumers will readily embrace a new technology because avoiding congestion or completing transaction fast, serve as a general extrinsic motivator leading consumers to choose self-service technology over a service staff (Kucukusta, Heung and Hui, 2014). The choice of self-service technologies is reinforced by the fact that consumers believe in the ease of use and usefulness of the focal technology for improving the performance of an intended task. Other extrinsic motivations related to self-service technologies include social acceptance, process control, and autonomy, a reliable transaction and satisfaction and self-esteem.
Customers are also likely to accept automated service technology in the restaurant industry for intrinsic reasons. For instance, workforce adopts emerging technologies when they anticipate reveling in the new system. The liveliness of the web-based technology is a substantially intrinsic motivation for consumers to try web-based technologies. Additionally, fun is an intrinsic motivator appropriate to the adoption of technology. Fulfilling one’s intrinsic motivations when undertaking a certain activity, such a person tend to reach a state of flow. Depending on the strength of intrinsic or extrinsic motivations, when customers are faced with two different options (service staff vs. SSTs) to achieve the same goal, they will align their preference with the option that adequately satisfies their motivations (Wei, Torres and Hua, 2016). When customers encounter two conflicting and countervail options, there is the probability that one type of desire will suppress or countervail the other desire.
Human beings have feelings and desire for company. The companion and interaction that customers can get from service staff cannot be compared to that of SSTs regardless of the efficiency of the technologies. For instance, a tourist accommodated in a restaurant alone will desire human interaction which cannot be offered by technology. According to Oh, Jeong and Baloglu (2013), desire for interaction with service staff serves as a countervailing construct against technology-related perceptions and a subsequent technology adoption decision. Some customers especially those in lone trips in foreign countries are likely to desire for service staff, who on top of providing prerequisite services, they can also help the customer settle in the country. These customers will desire for regular interactions with the service staff so as to be assisted adapt and also to be taught the simple values practiced in the country (Rastegar, 2018). Although such customers are visitors in a foreign country, they desire to be seen as they know the basic information about the country which service staff can help them attain as opposed to the SSTs.
In the light of this fact, the restaurant industry has automated both the food service and food preparation stages. Most players in the industry are automating many of their services but still maintain a number of service staff, who not only help the customers navigate through the SSTs but also standby for any clarification or assistance a customer may want. For example, Pizza Hut has deployed humanoid robot Pepper to take customer orders in a conversational manner. Communication with customers is facilitated with artificial intelligence and voice recognition technologies. Pepper is programmed to not take customer orders and relay them to restaurant kitchen but to also accept payments (Ozturk, 2016: Chung, and Cakmak, 2018). However, despite technology adoption, Pizza Hut has also standby service staff to offer any additional assistance to customers.
Conclusion
The restaurant industry has continually adopted technology not only to ensure survival but also to drive its competitiveness and profitability. Although not all services can be automated, it is the self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, individual company’s competitiveness, customer experience, and economic efficiency among other factors that will determine whether to automate the service delivery process (Collier et al., 2015). In addition, human interaction is a valued experience in the service industry and some customers will actively seek to maximize the experience whenever possible. Hence, service automation and use of robots cannot wholly eliminate service staff so as to satisfy the needs of customers who may want to retain personal contact with staff.
References
Chung, M.J.Y. and Cakmak, M., 2018. Exploring the Use of Robots for Gathering Customer Feedback in the Hospitality Industry.
Collier, J.E., Moore, R.S., Horky, A. and Moore, M.L., 2015. Why the little things matter: Exploring situational influences on customers' self-service technology decisions. Journal of Business Research, 68(3), pp.703-710.
Ivanov, S.H., Webster, C. and Berezina, K., 2017. Adoption of robots and service automation by tourism and hospitality companies.
Kim, M. and Qu, H., 2014. Travelers' behavioral intention toward hotel self-service kiosks usage. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(2), pp.225-245.
Ko, C.H., 2017. Exploring how hotel guests choose self-service technologies over service staff. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 9(3), pp.16-27.
Kucukusta, D., Heung, V.C. and Hui, S., 2014. Deploying self-service technology in luxury hotel brands: Perceptions of business travelers. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 31(1), pp.55-70.
Oh, H., Jeong, M. and Baloglu, S., 2013. Tourists' adoption of self-service technologies at resort hotels. Journal of Business Research, 66(6), pp.692-699.
Ozturk, A.B., 2016. Customer acceptance of cashless payment systems in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(4), pp.801-817.
Rastegar, N., 2018. Adoption of Self-service Kiosks in Quick-service Restaurants
(Doctoral dissertation).
Wei, W., Torres, E. and Hua, N., 2016. Improving consumer commitment through the integration of self-service technologies: a transcendent consumer experience perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 59, pp.105-115.
