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CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS:

ROBOTS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND SERVICE AUTOMATION IN TRAVEL, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

Editors:

• Stanislav Ivanov, Varna University of Management, Varna, Bulgaria
• Craig Webster, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA

Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited, UK

In recent years the world has witnessed significant progress in robotics, artificial intelligence, and service automation (RAISA). Such technologies are used in the manufacturing as industrial robots, in transportation as autonomous vehicles, in medicine for diagnoses and surgery, in education, in marketing, social media, search engines, in warehouses and supply chain management, in agriculture, entertainment, in military and surveillance operations etc. Social robots even enter our lives as companions and assistants for the elderly and for children with special needs.

RAISA are entering into all parts of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. They come in the form of automated restaurants and hotels, in-room digital assistants, robot concierges, robots guides, delivery drones, chatbots, etc. RAISA provide vast opportunities to travel, tourism and hospitality companies to improve their operations and productivity, deliver consistent product quality and transfer some of the service delivery process to the customers. At the same time, they raise various questions like the dehumanisation, standardisation and commodification of hospitality services, substitution of employees by robots and artificial intelligence, overdependence on computers.

While the application of artificial intelligence and service automation (e.g. self-service technologies) in travel, tourism and hospitality companies have received some attention by scholars, research on the adoption of robots by them is extremely scarce. This book aims to partially fill in this gap by elaborating on the theoretical and practical aspects of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation on both strategic and operational level.

If you are interested in contributing to this exciting project, please submit a 300-500 word abstract by the 31st of March, 2017 with 10-15 key references to the emails of both editors:

• Stanislav Ivanov: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu
• Craig Webster: cwebster3@bsu.edu

Indicative book content

The book is planned with two parts – theoretical aspects and practical application of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel, tourism and hospitality. Below we present the concepts of each part and the indicative chapter titles. Of course, if you wish to prepare a chapter that is not mentioned in the indicative lists please do not hesitate to contact the editors.

Part I Theoretical aspects of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel, tourism and hospitality

This section of the book will set the theoretical background of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation by travel, tourism and hospitality companies. It aims to elaborate on the economic fundamentals that underpin the decision to introduce robots in the company in addition to and/or instead of human employees; to delve into the managers’, employees’ and customers’ attitudes and perceptions towards the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation, the perceived threat of robots, and the resistance to their adoption.

Indicative list of chapters:

• Conceptual framework of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel, tourism, and hospitality companies
• Economic fundamentals of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel, tourism, and hospitality (already allocated)
• Managers’ and employees’ perceptions/attitudes towards the use of robots and artificial intelligence in travel, tourism, and hospitality
• Customer perceptions/attitudes towards the use of robots and artificial intelligence in travel, tourism, and hospitality
• Service automation in travel, tourism and hospitality – principles and practices
• Factors influencing the adoption of robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation by travel, tourism and hospitality companies
• The impact of robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation on service quality, companies’ competitiveness and financial performance
• Ethical issues of the use of robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation in travel, tourism, and hospitality

Part II Case studies: Application of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel, tourism, and hospitality

This section intends to provide a series of case studies that elaborate in details the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in various travel, tourism, and hospitality companies, the benefits of their adoption, the practical/operational challenges faced, and the (possible) solutions to these challenges. Authors are encouraged to include photos to illustrate with visual examples the adoption of this technology in the respective sector.

Indicative list of chapters:

• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in hotels
• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in restaurants
• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel agencies
• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in passenger transport companies
• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in events
• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in museums and galleries
• Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in theme and amusement parks

Book chapter guidelines

• Word count: between 5,000 and 6,000 words, including all references, tables and figures
• Author Guidelines for Emerald Series and Books can be found on this link:
• The presented research should be original and not included or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• Please, provide a focused literature review on the topic, and not on robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation in general.
• Wherever possible in the chapters from Part I, we encourage you to present empirical research on the respective topic.
• Chapters from Part II need to provide elaborate and focused case studies on the adoption of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation by the companies in the respective industry.
• We strongly recommend you to utilise your contacts with the industry, and to provide real business cases, connected with the topic and/or involve industry representatives as co-authors.
• Please, note that the book is intended for use by researchers, students, and practitioners. Therefore, we would highly appreciate if you consider your topic from three perspectives – research, pedagogical, and practical perspectives. You do not need to explicitly present each of the perspectives in separate chapter paragraphs, but they should be evident from the text.

Important due dates

• Abstract submission 31st March 2017
• Notification of contributors 30th April 2017
• Full chapter submission 31st October 2017
• Feedback to contributors 31st January 2018
• Submission of revised chapters 31st March 2018
• Feedback to contributors on revised chapters 30th April 2018
• Final versions 30th June 2018
• Submission to publisher 31st July 2018

MAY THE ROBOTIC FORCE BE WITH YOU!

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