Are we behaviorally immune to COVID-19 through robots?

Xiling Xiong; IpKin Anthony Wong; Fiona X Yang

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2021.103312

Are we behaviorally immune to COVID-19 through robots?

Ann Tour Res. 2021 Nov:91:103312. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2021.103312. Epub 2021 Oct 1.

Authors

Xiling Xiong¹, IpKin Anthony Wong¹, Fiona X Yang²

Affiliations

¹ School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, Tangzhou Rd. 1, Zhuhai, China.
² Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, Macau, China.

Abstract

In the context of the health risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourists' choices have shifted to reflect a subconscious psychological mechanism - the behavioral immune system - that facilitates human organisms to better identify plausible threats to ones' health through environment cues. This research draws upon this theoretical lens to assess tourists' pre-trip hotel evaluation in two 2 × 2 between-subject experiments. Experiment 1 (robot vs. human) tested the service provider's effect on hotel selection evaluation through the mediation of sense of control and the moderation of pandemic risk. Experiment 2 examined this chain of relationship through the moderation of hotel type. This research contributes to the literature by underscoring the pathogen-avoidance mechanism in tourist evaluation and the peril of robotization.

Keywords: Behavioral immune system; COVID; Hotel evaluation; Robot.