Title: Culturally adaptive service robots: impact of cross-cultural attributes on usage intention

Authors: Kashish Motiwala; Anubha Ray; Piyush Gupta

Addresses: Birla School of Management, Birla Global University, IDCO Plot No. 2, Institutional Area, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar, 751029, Odisha, India ' Birla School of Management, Birla Global University, IDCO Plot No. 2, Institutional Area, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar, 751029, Odisha, India ' Birla School of Management, Birla Global University, IDCO Plot No. 2, Institutional Area, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar, 751029, Odisha, India

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between the attributes of culturally adaptive service robots and their usage intention. The paper aims to find the impact of perceived cultural intelligence (PCI), perceived cultural interactivity (PCU) and perceived anthropomorphism (PA) on cross-cultural communication competence (CCC) and usage intention (UI) towards culturally adaptive service robots. Additionally, the paper identifies the mediating role of CCC in the aforementioned relationships. Data has been collected from 265 tourists and analysed using structural equation modelling. The results suggest a significant impact of PCI and PA on CCC, as well as PCI and PCU on UI. The direct effect of CCC on UI is found to be significant. The mediation analysis shows a partial mediating effect of CCC in the relationship between PCI and PA on UI.

Keywords: cross-cultural communication; service robots; structural equation model; service delivery; perceived anthropomorphism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOI.2025.152344

International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 2025 Vol.13 No.2/3/4, pp.332 - 351

Received: 15 Oct 2024
Accepted: 13 Nov 2025
Published online: 16 Mar 2026 *

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