Conceptualizing Service Robot-Induced Stress among Hotel Employees: A Literature-Based Grounded Theory Approach

As robotic technologies continue to advance, hotels are rapidly introducing service robots across several departments. While studies have been focused on customers, few studies have been conducted about employees who work directly with these robots. Existing ICT-based technostress models are often applied to this setting, yet they fit imperfectly: service robots differ from conventional ICT in both capabilities and interactional properties. This study uses a grounded theory approach to conceptualize service robot stress from the employee perspective. Drawing on a targeted literature review, we derived 55 open codes that were clustered into 11 higher-order concepts. These results are used to understand the construct of service robot stress and to propose a theoretical model for robot stress in hospitality working environments. Thus, the study extends technostress to a robotics context and offers a foundation for future measurement development and empirical testing in hospitality settings.