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The present paper gives an overview of the current trend of social work education in Mainland China, a fast‐expanding academic subject of higher education in Mainland China during the last 20 years. This rapid development was brought about by the increasing recognition of the use of social work knowledge in tackling some of the social problems arising from the social and economic changes induced by the open door policy of China. New initiatives were undertaken by government departments, academic institutes and service providers, to explore possible reform of service delivery models in serving the elderly, children and youth, women and other vulnerable groups. It thus creates demands for personnel with new skills and knowledge. It has also led to the promulgation of government policies in 2006, in establishing a strong work force of social work, by setting up an accreditation system for social work as a vocation, making available funding for service development and setting up of NGOs. This paper also highlights some of the imminent issues that cause concern, such as the search for a theoretical model of social training and practices suitable for Chinese society, standardization of curriculum design, teaching and learning, consolidation of accreditation examination and career structure, and creation of a working environment conducive to the professionalization of social work in terms of motivating and retaining social work graduates to stay in the service sector.

Purpose
This study aims to compares the effects of different human-like appearances (low vs. medium vs. high) of service robots (SRs) on consumer trust in service robots (CTSR), examines the mediating role of perceived warmth (WA) and perceived competence (CO) and demonstrates the moderating role of culture and service setting.

Design/methodology/approach
The research design includes three scenario-based experiments (Chinese hotel setting, American hotel setting, Chinese hospital setting).

Findings
Study 1 found SR's human-like appearance can arouse perceived anthropomorphism (PA), which positively affects CTSR through parallel mediators (WA and CO). Study 2 revealed consumers from Chinese (vs. American) culture had higher CTSR. Study 3 showed consumers had higher WA and CO for SRs in the credence (vs. experience) service setting. The authors also had an exploratory analysis of the uncanny valley phenomenon.

Practical implications
The findings have practical implications for promoting the diffusion of SRs in the hospitality industry. Managers can increase CTSR by augmenting the anthropomorphic design of SRs; however, they must consider the differences in this effect across all service recipients (consumers from different cultures) and service settings.

Originality/value
The authors introduce WA and CO as mediators between PA and CTSR and set the culture and service setting as moderators.