A critical review of robot research and future research opportunities: adopting a service ecosystem perspective

Purpose Given the recent growth of service robot research in hospitality and tourism management (HTM), the purpose of this study is to identify a research agenda by conducting a systematic and holistic review of service robot research published in both HTM and broader business management (BM) journals. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a service ecosystem perspective, 38 HTM articles and 13 highly cocited BM articles out of 126 BM articles were qualitatively reviewed to analyze the intellectual structures and foundations of robotics research. Findings The relationships between service robots and the four multilevel actors of the service ecosystem were analyzed: the consumer, employee, management and society. Twenty-eight specific research questions were proposed for the robotics-customer relationship, robotics-employee relationship, robotics-management relationship and robotics-society relationship. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to understanding the intellectual structures and evolution of rapidly growing HTM robotics research in terms of the holistic relationships among the four service ecosystem actors of robotics. Future research needs to identify other actors and their activities to examine the service ecosystem of robotics. Originality/value This study provides a pathway for future hospitality and tourism research by helping to focus on important robotics issues and further develop the theoretical and empirical knowledge of robotics. This work informs practitioners of key issues associated with the industrial adoption of robots.