IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i17p8085-d1744996.html

Co-Served Dining by Humans and Automations: The Effects of Experience Quality in Intelligent Restaurants

Author

Listed:
  • Liu Xu

    (Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau SAR, China)

  • Shiyi Zhang

    (Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau SAR, China)

  • Jose Weng Chou Wong

    (Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau SAR, China)

  • Jing (Bill) Xu

    (Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies, Macao Polytechnic University, Macau SAR, China)

Abstract

Automation has been widely applied and has greatly affected quality management in the catering industry. Intelligent restaurants refer to those in which smart devices and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies (such as robots and self-service technologies) are embedded in the restaurant environment. However, the existing research on intelligent restaurants has mostly focused on the technological development of equipment. Hence, this interdisciplinary study, integrating insights from hospitality management and human–computer interaction, examines how human-provided and automated-provided services interactively influence customers’ dining experience quality in intelligent restaurants, and how they affect customers’ perceived value and their social media sharing generation. This study develops a measurement scale of dining experience quality in intelligent restaurants that contains human-provided experience and automated-provided experience through in-depth interviews with 15 customers (Study1), and a model was proposed and verified using partial least-squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis on a sample of 493 customers dining in intelligent restaurants (Study 2), which shows that the quality of dining experience has a positive effect on customer perceived value, overall satisfaction in intelligent restaurants, and social media sharing generation. Specifically, automated-provided services offer functional value, while human employees mainly provide perceived emotional value. Perceived functional value has a greater impact on overall satisfaction with intelligent restaurants. The originality of this research is that it integrates services provided by humans and services provided by automated devices and clarifies the different roles of functional and emotional value in shaping customers’ perceived value. These findings provide a new research perspective for intelligent restaurants and insight into the optimization of service quality and automation systems in intelligent restaurants, thereby promoting sustainable business practices in the industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu Xu & Shiyi Zhang & Jose Weng Chou Wong & Jing (Bill) Xu, 2025. "Co-Served Dining by Humans and Automations: The Effects of Experience Quality in Intelligent Restaurants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8085-:d:1744996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8085/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8085/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yongbo Sun & Jiayuan Xing, 2022. "The Impact of Social Media Information Sharing on the Green Purchase Intention among Generation Z," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Ha-Won Jang & Soo-Bum Lee, 2020. "Serving Robots: Management and Applications for Restaurant Business Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Ledden, Lesley & Kalafatis, Stavros P. & Samouel, Phillip, 2007. "The relationship between personal values and perceived value of education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 965-974, September.
    4. Sheth, Jagdish N. & Newman, Bruce I. & Gross, Barbara L., 1991. "Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 159-170, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Seon Hee Kim & Se Ran Yoo & Hyeon Mo Jeon, 2022. "The role of experiential value, novelty, and satisfaction in robot barista coffee shop in South Korea: COVID-19 crisis and beyond," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 16(3), pages 771-790, September.
    2. Untung Rahardja & Tanaporn Hongsuchon & Taqwa Hariguna & Athapol Ruangkanjanases, 2021. "Understanding Impact Sustainable Intention of S-Commerce Activities: The Role of Customer Experiences, Perceived Value, and Mediation of Relationship Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Ying-Jiun Hsieh & Shu-Min Yang Lin & Lan-Ying Huang, 2021. "Sharing Leftover Food with Strangers via Social Media: A Value Perspective Based on Beliefs-Values-Behavior Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Nina Petreska & Jana Prodanova & Ljupco Kocarev, 2023. "Should I Leave My Country? Higher Education Value Shaping Students’ Satisfaction and Brain Drain Intentions in Western Balkans," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    5. Marelby Amado-Mateus & Yonni Angel Cuero-Acosta & Alfredo Guzman-Rincón, 2023. "Evaluation of psychometric properties of perceived value applied to universities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Dziewanowska , Katarzyna, 2018. "VALUE CO-CREATION STYLES IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. The Case of Poland," University of California at Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education qt89c0m30t, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley.
    7. Chen, Shih-Chih & Lin, Chieh-Peng, 2019. "Understanding the effect of social media marketing activities: The mediation of social identification, perceived value, and satisfaction," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 22-32.
    8. Yuqian Li & Xiaoguang Zhou & Yaqi Pan & Wenli He, 2022. "How Engagement in the Industry-Education Integration Promotes One’s Attitudes toward Energy Efficiency. Evidence from Chinese University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-12, November.
    9. Baek, Eunsoo & Oh, Ga-Eun (Grace), 2021. "Diverse values of fashion rental service and contamination concern of consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 165-175.
    10. Sheng-Yen Chang & Virginia Bodolica & Huei-Hsia Hsu & Hsi-Peng Lu, 2023. "What people talk about online and what they intend to do: related perspectives from text mining and path analysis," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(4), pages 931-956, December.
    11. Xuguang Zhu & Yihan Zhang & Zeyu Wu, 2025. "Familiar Yet New: How Design-Driven Innovation and Brand Image Affect Green Agricultural Product Purchase Intentions in the Live Streaming Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-15, January.
    12. Zhang, Kai & Cheng, Xiaoting, 2025. "Determinants of consumers’ intentions to use smart home devices from the perspective of perceived value: A mixed SEM, NCA, and fsQCA study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Saarijärvi, Hannu & Mitronen, Lasse & Yrjölä, Mika, 2014. "From selling to supporting – Leveraging mobile services in the context of food retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 26-36.
    14. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    15. Terason Sid, 2021. "Predicting Sports Facility Revisit Intentions Based on Experience and Mediating Effects of Perceived Value," Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 28(3), pages 35-41, September.
    16. Debora Bettiga & Lucio Lamberti & Emanuele Lettieri, 2020. "Individuals’ adoption of smart technologies for preventive health care: a structural equation modeling approach," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 203-214, June.
    17. Morais, Ana Catarina & Ishida, Akira & Matsuda, Ruriko, 2024. "Ethical food consumption drivers in Japan. A S–O-R framework application using PLS-SEM with a MGA assessment based on clustering," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Neringa Ivanauskiene & Vilte Auruškeviciene & Vida Skudiene & Sarunas Nedzinskas, 2012. "Customer perceptions of value: case of retail banking," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 3(1).
    19. Jin, Ting & Prentice, Catherine & Shao, Wei, 2021. "Identifying antecedent conditions for luxury brand purchase," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    20. Jinzhi Zou & Khairul Manami Kamarudin & Jing Liu & Jiaqi Zhang, 2024. "Towards Sustainable Mobility: Determinants of Intention to Purchase Used Electric Vehicles in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-20, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8085-:d:1744996. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.