Correlation Between Perceived Attributes Of Service Robot And Work Engagement Of Catering Frontline Employees In The Era Of AI

Focusing on the core issue of how service robots empower/threaten front line employees,this article conducts research in the logical order of "asking questions-qualitative exploration-constructing theoretical models-empirical testing-conclusion discussion".Firstly,review relevant literature to understand the application status of service robots and the research progress on related issues.Then,from the perspective of trait activation theory,innovation resistance theory,and conservation of resource theory,a moderated intermediary model is constructed.This article conducted the survey in Guangdong Province,took the front line employees of catering enterprises as the respondents.Finally,we collected 522 valid questionnaires through on-site collection.In order to find the views of frontline employees on the social phenomenon of "machine replacement" and their evaluation of service robots,we conducted interviews with 28 front line employees and obtained 6347 valid fields of interview text data.The important conclusions of this study are as follows:First,perceived intelligence of service robots can enhance the growth need strength of front line employees,which can further enhance their work engagement;Growth need strength is an important intermediary variable in the relationship between perceived intelligence of service robots and work engagement of the front line employees;Secondly,perceived safety of service robots negatively predicts employees’ robot anxiety,which further negatively affects employees’work engagement.Robot anxiety plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between perceived safety of service robots and employees’ work engagement;Thirdly,in the current era of "machine replacement" in full swing,front-line employees are facing the pressure and threat of being replaced by robots due to the repetitive and replicable work content.However,job insecurity may exacerbates the depletion of internal and external resources of employees,reducing their work engagement;Job insecurity is an important moderating variable in the relationship between "growth need strength-work engagement"and "robot anxiety-work engagement" of employee.Based on the above conclusions,this article proposes suggestions from the dual perspectives of catering enterprises and service robot manufacturing enterprises for reference.