Chatbot usage at fast food restaurants in Ghana: Exploring the perception-attitude-behaviour nexus

As hospitality businesses including fast food restaurants continue to rebound after COVID-19, immersive technologies (e.g., chatbots) have become essential tools for the industry’s survival. Chatbots allow for accurate orders to be made at restaurants as well as enhancing seamless business transactions. Grounded on the Technology Acceptance Model 1 (perception-attitude-behaviour), this paper aims to investigate the attitude and use behaviour of chatbots at fast food restaurants among hospitality students. Set in the context of an emerging economy (Ghana) where the adoption of immersive technologies is still infant, this study employs a quantitative approach to offer valuable insights into chatbot usage in resource-limited settings. Results were analysed with Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Results revealed that perceived experience, usefulness, and ease of use have positive effects on attitude. However, regarding the effect of the same predictors on use behaviour, only perceived experience was found to be significant. Attitude was also found to have had a significant positive effect on use behaviour. This study sheds insight into the literature by exploring the relationships within the technology acceptance model via perception-attitude-behaviour linkage. Unlike prior studies, that concentrates on users’ intentions of technology adoption, this study concentrates on the users’ actual use behaviour. Further, the study provides practical suggestions and further points out the need for hospitality businesses including restaurants, to adopt chatbot as self-ordering systems for customers.