No man is an island: Will service robots reduce employee loneliness?

Although the application of robotics technology in tourism and hospitality service scenarios has been widely explored, few studies have investigated the impact of service robots on employee workplace loneliness. To address this issue, we conducted two studies: Study 1, consisting of a scenario-based online experiment (Study 1a) and a field experiment (Study 1b); and Study 2, a two-wave survey. The results reveal that the social presence of robots reduces workplace loneliness, with employee-robot rapport and interpersonal closeness serving as partial mediators. The need for human interaction moderates the relationships between robot social presence and employee-robot rapport and interpersonal closeness, as well as the mediating effects. This study clarifies the mechanisms and boundary conditions of the impact of service robots on employee loneliness, extends social presence theory, and contributes to the literature on service robots. It also provides insights for robotics management and human resource management in the tourism and hospitality sector.