What Drives GenZ to Accept Robot's Recommendations?

Social Robots are the future of the hospitality industry and have been used in a variety of contexts, including providing recommendations. However, there is limited understanding of what drives customers to accept recommendations from a social robot in a fine dining restaurant. Fine dining restaurants are experience-based environments, and it is critical to understand the role of social robots as recommendation agents, especially from a Gen Z perspective. This paper will discuss the factors that can impact Gen Z's willingness to accept social robots' recommendations in a fine dining restaurant. Specifically, it investigates the influence of Attitudes, Subjective Norms, Inferences of Manipulative Intent (IMI), Source Credibility and Empathy on Willingness to Accept Social Robot Recommendations (WASRR). This model would help managers evaluate the suitability of social robots for providing relevant recommendations and help in their sustainable deployment in collaboration with their human counterparts. The key contribution of the study is the development of the "Willingness to Accept Social Robots' Recommendation model.