How does robot gender affect men’s and women’s technological acceptance?
(R2022-111748)

AUTHORS

Rubén Huertas-Garcia, University of Barcelona – UB; Santiago Forgas-Coll , University of Barcelona; Antonio Andriella, Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial CSIC-UPC; Guillem Alenyà , Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial CSIC-UPC

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of Covid-19 and the consequent social distancing measures between people has boosted the use of social robots to deliver front-office services. In addition, the use of female robots to provide these services has proliferated. However, it is unclear whether the gender of the robot can be a market segmentation criterion targeting men and women. To explore this, a 2×2 (robot gender by human sex) experiment was set up, where a social robot simulated providing a customer service. A model derived from UTAUT was used to estimate its technological acceptance. The findings reveal that men and women used different drivers to explain their technological acceptance of male or female robots during the delivery of a front-office service. This suggests that it makes sense to consider segmenting the market by sex.