Abstract

Purpose: Nowadays, many restaurants use serving robots. Initially, many people thought that Covid-19 caused the spread of serving robots. However, even as the endemic, many restaurants still use serving robots. Therefore, this study examines why many customers choose restaurants with serving robots, using the UTAUT2 framework. Additionally, this study explores whether shyness has a moderating effect on these factors. Research design, data and methodology: Data were collected from 307 consumers who had visited a restaurant using a serving robot and analyzed using SmartPLS 4.0 software. A total of 286 datasets were analyzed. Result: We found that the precedence factors of UTAUT2 (Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Condition, Hedonic Motivation) had a positive effect on attitude. Furthermore, attitude had a significant positive effect on Behavioral Intention. However, shyness did not appear to have a moderating effect among these factors. This is likely due to customers using serving robots for very short time, as identified in the literature review. Conclusions: As a result of this study, it was explained that Hedonic Motivation had the most significant positive effect on shaping attitudes toward restaurants using serving robots through the UTAUT2 model.