Service Sector Professionals’ Perspective on Robots Doing Their Job in the Future

Abstract

After a long history of industrial automation, robots are entering service fields at an accelerating rate due to the recent technological advances in robotics. Understanding the acceptance and applicability of robots is essential for successful introduction, desired benefits, and well-managed transformation of the labor market. In this work, we investigated whether service sector professionals consider robots applicable to their field compared to professionals from other sectors. We collected survey data from Finnish (N = 1817) and U.S. participants (N = 1740) and analyzed them using ordinary least squares regression. Results showed that Finnish and U.S. participants from the service sector disclosed a less positive attitude toward robots’ suitability to their own occupational field compared to participants from other fields. Younger age, technological expertise, prior experience interacting with robots at work, and positive attitude toward robots were associated with higher perceived robot suitability. Perceived robot suitability was also found to mediate the relationship between occupational sector and positive interaction attitudes. The results indicate that robots entering into service industries evokes some resistance and doubt in professionals of these fields. Increasing technological knowledge and prior experience with robots at work are central factors when introducing robots in a socially sustainable way.