Research progress in service automation: a critical review of consumer behavior in tourism and hospitality

Purpose This study aims to address the conceptual ambiguity and fragmented understanding of service automation consumer behaviors in the tourism and hospitality industry. It synthesizes existing definitions, categorizes research domains and identifies emerging themes to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding consumer behavior in service automation. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was conducted on 70 peer-reviewed articles related to service automation in tourism and hospitality. The study used thematic analysis to identify conceptual patterns, developed concept maps to illustrate interrelationships among constructs and performed citation analysis to uncover methodological trends and research gaps. Findings This review identifies three foundational characteristics of service automation: technology dependence, system autonomy and service delivery. Three major research themes were extracted, including consumer acceptance, humanoid and anthropomorphic design features and the impacts of service automation. The analysis also highlights prevalent application areas and methodological approaches and points to underexplored research opportunities. Originality/value This study offers the first structured synthesis of service automation consumer behavior literature. By developing a comprehensive conceptual framework and visualizing key research interconnections, it advances scholarly understanding of consumer behavior in the context of automated services and sets a clear agenda for future research.