Service robots in hospitals: new perspectives on niche evolution and technology affordances

Abstract

Changing demands in society and the limited capabilities of health systems have paved the way for robots to move out of industrial contexts and enter more human-centered environments such as healthcare. We explore the shared beliefs and concerns of health workers on the introduction of autonomously operating service robots in hospitals or professional care facilities. By means of Qmethodology, a mixed research approach specifically designed for studying subjective thought patterns, we identify five potential end-user niches, each of which perceive different affordances and outcomes from using service robots in their working environment. Our findings allows for better understanding resistance and susceptibility of different users in a hospital and encourages managerial awareness of varying demands, needs, and surrounding conditions a service robot must contend with. We also discuss general insights into presenting the Q-methodology results and how an affordance-based view could inform the adoption, appropriation, and adaptation of emerging technologies.

Physiolytics at the workplace: Affordances and constraints of wearables use from an employee's perspective

“…Since conventional approaches to analysing the appraisal of physiolytics systems prefer to differentiate users by deterministic variables, such as age, sex, or marital status (Koo, 2017), an analysis of users' mental models may help to distinguish differences in perceptions of affordances and constraints that explain heterogeneous IS responses (Henfridsson & Lindgren, 2010;Mettler, Sprenger, & Winter, 2017). Since conventional approaches to analysing the appraisal of physiolytics systems prefer to differentiate users by deterministic variables, such as age, sex, or marital status (Koo, 2017), an analysis of users' mental models may help to distinguish differences in perceptions of affordances and constraints that explain heterogeneous IS responses (Henfridsson & Lindgren, 2010;Mettler, Sprenger, & Winter, 2017).…”

“…Because physiolytics exhibits a considerable disruptiveness, such an enriched understanding is particularly important (Elie-Dit-Cosaque & Straub, 2011); some workers may perceive physiolytics as an opportunity, while others primarily see threats to their personal situation. Since conventional approaches to analysing the appraisal of physiolytics systems prefer to differentiate users by deterministic variables, such as age, sex, or marital status (Koo, 2017), an analysis of users' mental models may help to distinguish differences in perceptions of affordances and constraints that explain heterogeneous IS responses (Henfridsson & Lindgren, 2010;Mettler, Sprenger, & Winter, 2017). Taken together, adopting an affordance theoretic view may contribute to the current knowledge on IS appraisal because it enriches the current understanding of the conditions, under which users choose or modify IS responses (Bhattacherjee et al, 2017).…”

“…applied Q-methodology for studying differences in the decision-making of project managers regarding the IT distribution in enterprises Storey, Straub, Stewart, and Welke (2000). Similarly,Mettler et al (2017) used Q-methodology for studying different attitudes towards the adoption of service robots. Klaus, Wingreen, and Blanton (2010) performed a study involving Q-methodology for investigating user resistance in enterprise system implementation.…”

Information technologies of 21st century and their impact on the society

“…One of the ongoing healthcare issue is the eradication of deadly viruses and bacteria from hospitals and healthcare units. Nosocomial infections are a common problem for hospitals and currently they are treated using various techniques [32,33]. Historically, cleaning the hospital wards and operating rooms with chlorine has been an effective way.…”

“…On the face of some deadly viruses like EBOLA, HIV Aids, Swine Influenza H1N1, H1N2, various strands of flu, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), there are dangerous implications of using this method [14]. An advanced approach is being used in the USA hospitals, which employs ''robots'' to purify the space as can be seen in [32,33]. However, certain problems exist within the limitations of the current ''robots''.…”