Systematic literature review and future research directions for service robots in hospitality and tourism industries

Abstract

Service robots create a touchless experience for travellers; therefore, this research aims to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) of service robots in the tourism and hospitality sector. This study used the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) approach for reviewing the articles. One hundred eighteen articles are selected for the final review. A thematic analysis divided the articles into three themes and nine sub-themes. For establishing the future research directions Theory, Methodology, and Context (TMC) framework was used and forty-one future research questions are proposed. The study provides various research implications concerning theory and practical perspective. Different management theories are linked with future research questions. Few review papers discussed the service robot in the context of the tourism sector, but none of these studies used the SPAR-4-SLR and TMC framework. This study comprehensively reviews the articles and provides potential future research directions.