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Analysis of institutional authors

Ruiz Equihua, DanielCorresponding AuthorRomero, JaimeAuthor

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November 21, 2022
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Article

Human-robot interactions in the restaurant setting: the role of social cognition, psychological ownership and anthropomorphism

Publicated to: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 35 (6): 1966-1985 - 2023-05-11 35(6), DOI: 10.1108/IJCHM-05-2022-0597

Authors:

Ruiz-Equihua, D; Romero, J; Loureiro, SMC; Ali, M
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Affiliations

Inst Univ Lisboa ISCTE IUL, Business Res Unit BRU IUL, Lisbon, Portugal - Author
Northumbria Univ, Newcastle Business Sch, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, England - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fac Ciencias Econ & Empresariales, Madrid, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Purpose The usage of robot waiters in the hospitality industry is growing, thus increasing the number of human-robot interactions in frontline services. Focusing on robot waiters in restaurants, this study aims to propose the social cognition (SC)-psychological ownership (PO)-customer responses (CR) model, while examining the association between SC, PO, robot anthropomorphism and CR. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses of this study are tested using a three-step mixed-method approach that includes partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Findings PLS-SEM demonstrates the mediating role of psychological ownership on the relationship between SC, customer attitudes regarding being attended by a robot and revisiting intentions. Robot anthropomorphism enhances the relationship between SC and psychological ownership. NCA indicates that SC and psychological ownership are necessary conditions for the presence of favorable attitudes and revisiting intentions. FsQCA suggests that different configurations of the antecedent conditions lead to better attitudes and revisiting intentions. Practical implications Frontline hospitality robots need to be perceived as warm, competent, responsive and adaptable to customer requests to elicit positive responses. Managers should employ attractive robots displaying anthropomorphic features. Managers need to ensure that customers have some knowledge about robots before interacting with them. Managers should also consider customer heterogeneity and the context in which the robots will be deployed. Originality/value Based on the psychological ownership theory, this paper analyzes the relationship between SC, psychological ownership and CR. Anthropomorphism moderates the relationship between SC and psychological ownership.
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Keywords

Customer loyaltyCustomer responsesFsqcaNcaPsychological ownershipRobot anthropomorphismSocial cognition

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position 16/407, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Management. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 16.05. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 8.13 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-01, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 61
  • Scopus: 65
  • Google Scholar: 78
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-01:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 131.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 130 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/705360
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Portugal; United Kingdom.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (RUIZ EQUIHUA, DANIEL) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been RUIZ EQUIHUA, DANIEL.

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Awards linked to the item

Authors are grateful for the financial support received from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (PID2020-113561RB-I00) and from the Professorship Excellence Program in accordance with the multi-year agreement signed by the Government of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madrid (Line #3).
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