Structural Relationships between Social Interaction Attributes of Restaurant Service Robots and Customer Responses

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of service robots in restaurants has increased; however, empirical understanding of human-robot interaction (HRI) in service contexts remains limited. This study investigates how robot interaction attributes—anthropomorphism, animacy, likeability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety—influence social presence, trust, enjoyment, usage intention. Using a scenario-based online experiment, customer perceptions of restaurant service robots were examined. The results indicate that anthropomorphism and animacy are not perceived as separate attributes but are integrated into a single construct of perceived humanness, which positively influences likeability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety. However, perceived humanness exerts a negative effect on trust, whereas likeability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety enhance trust. In addition, perceived humanness increases social presence, enjoyment, and usage intention, while social presence demonstrates a dual role by strengthening trust and enjoyment but negatively affecting usage intention. Finally, trust positively influences enjoyment and usage intention, and enjoyment further enhances usage intention. Overall, these findings reconceptualize anthropomorphism and animacy, reveal the ambivalent role of social presence, and extend HRI theory in restaurant service contexts.