Enhancing Interpersonal Relationships at Business Events Through Technology: Exploring the Role AND Design of Social Robots

In an era where technologies are increasingly transforming how people connect and experience events, understanding their impact on social engagement, particularly in fostering inclusive experiences for diverse participants, has become essential for the event tourism industry. Against this backdrop, this study aims to 1) develop a comprehensive understanding of the current state of event technology and its impact on attendees’ social engagement; 2) examine how social robots facilitate interpersonal interaction for more inclusive experiences; and 3) identify key design factors of social robots and assess how these elements influence attendees’ social comfort.Chapter 2 presents a critical systematic review of research on technology-facilitated event engagement published in leading event tourism journals between 2008 and 2023. This review identifies key event categories and engagement variables while revealing a significant gap in existing research: how smart consumer-assistive technologies can promote more inclusive event experiences by supporting attendees’ social experiences. Building on these insights, Chapter 3 employs a mixed-methods approach, including in-depth interviews and a conjoint survey, to explore the roles of social robots and their design features in facilitating attendees’ interpersonal interaction. The study depicts social robots’ roles across stages of the social interaction journey and identifies key design features and their relative importance in shaping attendees’ adoption intentions in event tourism. The findings provide insights for robot engineers in designing social robots that help event planners leverage technology to cultivate inclusive social experiences. Chapter 4 adopts an experimental design to further examine how specific design features, the graphical user interface and proactive behavior, affect attendees’ social comfort during networking at professional events. The study also enhances understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms that explain attendees’ perceptions and cognitive processes.Collectively, the dissertation positions event technologies, particularly social robots, as emerging forces transforming the experiential landscape of events. The three empirical chapters (Chapters 2 through 4) position social robots as socio-technical actors embedded within event environments. The findings reveal that attendee engagement unfolds as a dynamic interactional process shaped by evolving psychological needs, facilitated by advancing technology, and influenced by robot design affordances. These insights set the foundation for Chapter 5, which integrates the empirical findings to discuss their implications for inclusive experience design and the evolving role of intelligent technologies in shaping meaningful attendee engagement.Chapter 5 concludes by positioning social robots not as replacements for human service but as relational facilitators that enhance social comfort, support inclusion, and enable meaningful interpersonal interaction in increasingly complex event environments. The findings offer actionable implications for event planners, service providers, and robot engineers. Together, these insights underscore a broader transformation toward technology-empowered engagement in the event tourism industry, where AI complements human connection to foster service well-being and inclusive event experiences.