Robots are playing a growing role in the hospitality industry—guiding guests, delivering meals, and even offering menu suggestions. But new research from the Penn State School of Hospitality Management reveals that subtle traits like a robot’s “gender” can significantly influence how customers respond, especially when they feel uncertain or lack confidence.
The study shows that human-like features—such as names, voices, colors, and shapes—often signal gender in service robots. These gender cues, in turn, can sway customer decision-making based on how powerful or in control a person feels.
“Robots can be designed or programmed to have human-like features like names, voices, and body shapes, which portray gender,” said co-author Anna Mattila. “In addition to robot gender, a consumer’s sense of power… can also affect how successful a service robot can be in making recommendations.”
To explore this, researchers ran two experiments. In one, 239 participants imagined visiting a new restaurant and were asked to evaluate how powerful they felt before interacting with a robot server. The robot—designed with either pink (female) or gray (male) color accents—recommended a breakfast burrito, and participants rated how persuasive the recommendation was.
Lead author Lavi Peng noted that “women with a low sense of power were more prone to accept a male robot’s recommendations.” Men with low power were less influenced by the robot’s gender, while consumers with high power, regardless of gender, were more likely to trust their own judgment over external cues.
The findings suggest that businesses can strategically design robots to influence customer behavior. For example, using male-characterized robots could improve upselling success among certain demographics.
“Upselling and upgrading are all about persuasion,” Peng said. “If a business knows its customer is female, it may want to consider using a robot with different gender characteristics than it would with a male customer.”
Interestingly, the study also suggests that using “cute” robot designs can reduce the impact of gender cues, possibly offering a more neutral and universally appealing approach.
