Customers’ perceived product creativity and innovativeness in robot-service restaurants, and their impact on customer loyalty

Purpose Robot-service restaurants have become a new industrial trend. However, little is known about how customers perceive robot-service restaurants and what drives their behavior in these settings. Therefore, this study aims to examine how different features of new product creativity influence perceived coolness, memorable experiences and positive behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach In total, 689 questionnaires were collected from customers who patronized robot-service restaurants. This study examined the relationships between meaningfulness, novelty, perceived “coolness,” memorable customer experiences, value co-creation and word-of-mouth intention. Findings The results showed that both perceived meaningfulness and novelty significantly affected the perceived coolness of the restaurant and memorable experiences, leading to customers’ intentions to engage in word-of-mouth publicity and value co-creation. This study also found that consumer innovativeness moderated the effect of perceived coolness on customer citizenship behaviors. Originality/value This study developed and tested a new product creativity model in service robot restaurants, where new technological innovations are applied to serve customers and provide new restaurant environments.