IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0268942.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insights into the relationship between usability and willingness to use a robot in the future workplaces: Studying the mediating role of trust and the moderating roles of age and STARA

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammad Babamiri
  • Rashid Heidarimoghadam
  • Fakhradin Ghasemi
  • Leili Tapak
  • Alireza Mortezapour

Abstract

Background and aim: Human–robot collaboration is the key component of the fourth industrial revolution concept. Workers’ willingness to collaborate with industrial robots is a basic requirement for an efficient and effective interaction. The roles of human-robot trust and technology affinity as mediators in the relationship between robot usability and worker willingness were analyzed in this study. As other critical variables, the mediator roles of Age and STARA were also calculated. Materials and methods: This study included 400 workers from a car company who interacted with industrial robots in their daily work activities. After examining the questionnaires’ validity and reliability, the main variables were determined to be willingness to use robots and robot usability. AMOS software also considered human-robot trust and worker technology affinity as mediators. The bootstrapping method was used to evaluate indirect relationships. A set of goodness-of-fit indices were presented to determine the adequacy of the goodness of fit between the proposed model and the data. Results: Based on model fit indices, an overall satisfactory model fit was obtained for the direct/indirect relationship between robot usability and worker willingness to use it (with mediating role of human-robot trust). Workers’ age and fear of Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA) were identified as moderators in the relationship between usability and willingness. Conclusion: Attention to the robot usability and the role of workers’ trust in robots appears to be required to ensure workers’ willingness to use robots and the success of human-robot collaboration in future workplaces. As the workers age and their fear of robots grows, usability can play a larger role in increasing their willingness to put robots to work.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Babamiri & Rashid Heidarimoghadam & Fakhradin Ghasemi & Leili Tapak & Alireza Mortezapour, 2022. "Insights into the relationship between usability and willingness to use a robot in the future workplaces: Studying the mediating role of trust and the moderating roles of age and STARA," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(6), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0268942
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268942
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268942
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268942&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0268942?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Natarajan, Thamaraiselvan & Balasubramanian, Senthil Arasu & Kasilingam, Dharun Lingam, 2018. "The moderating role of device type and age of users on the intention to use mobile shopping applications," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 79-90.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cliff R. Kikawa & Charity Kiconco & Moses Agaba & Dimas Ntirampeba & Amos Ssematimba & Billy M. Kalema, 2022. "Social Media Marketing for Small and Medium Enterprise Performance in Uganda: A Structural Equation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Gallardo Montes, Carmen del Pilar & Rodríguez Fuentes, Antonio & Caurcel Cara, María Jesús, 2021. "Apps for people with autism: Assessment, classification and ranking of the best," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Wasib Latif, 2022. "Determinants of Hotel Brand Image: A Unified Model of Customer-Based Brand Equity," International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), IGI Global, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Atandile Ngubelanga & Rodney Duffett, 2021. "Modeling Mobile Commerce Applications’ Antecedents of Customer Satisfaction among Millennials: An Extended TAM Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-29, May.
    5. Taesoo Cho & Taeyoung Cho & Hyunjun Choi & Sungchul Yang & Hao Zhang, 2023. "User Satisfaction Study for Sustainability of YouTube Content Quality: Focusing on Ski Technology," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Kasilingam, Dharun Lingam, 2020. "Understanding the attitude and intention to use smartphone chatbots for shopping," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Simarpreet Kaur & Sangeeta Arora, 2023. "Understanding customers’ usage behavior towards online banking services: an integrated risk–benefit framework," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 74-98, March.
    8. Shah, Zakir & Chu, Jianxun & Feng, Bo & Qaisar, Sara & Ghani, Usman & Hassan, Zameer, 2019. "If you care, I care: Perceived social support and public engagement via SNSs during crises," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    9. Yi Yong Lee & Chin Lay Gan & Tze Wei Liew, 2023. "Do E-wallets trigger impulse purchases? An analysis of Malaysian Gen-Y and Gen-Z consumers," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(2), pages 244-261, June.
    10. Miluska Murillo-Zegarra & Carla Ruiz-Mafe & Silvia Sanz-Blas, 2020. "The Effects of Mobile Advertising Alerts and Perceived Value on Continuance Intention for Branded Mobile Apps," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-20, August.
    11. Benjamin Barann & Jan H. Betzing & Marco Niemann & Benedikt Hoffmeister & Jörg Becker, 2022. "Exploring customers’ likeliness to use e-service touchpoints in brick and mortar retail," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(2), pages 523-545, June.
    12. Hoffmann, Stefan & Lasarov, Wassili & Reimers, Hanna, 2022. "Carbon footprint tracking apps. What drives consumers' adoption intention?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Omar, Suha & Mohsen, Kholoud & Tsimonis, Georgios & Oozeerally, Adam & Hsu, Jen-Hsien, 2021. "M-commerce: The nexus between mobile shopping service quality and loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Balakrishnan, Vimala & Shuib, Nor Liyana Mohd, 2021. "Drivers and inhibitors for digital payment adoption using the Cashless Society Readiness-Adoption model in Malaysia," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    15. Jumaan, Ibrahim A. & Hashim, Noor Hazarina & Al-Ghazali, Basheer M., 2020. "The role of cognitive absorption in predicting mobile internet users’ continuance intention: An extension of the expectation-confirmation model," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    16. Engström, Emma & Strimling, Pontus, 2020. "Deep learning diffusion by infusion into preexisting technologies – Implications for users and society at large," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    17. Siwalak Jierasup & Adisorn Leelasantitham, 2024. "A Change from Negative to Positive of Later Adoption Using the Innovation Decision Process to Imply Sustainability for HR Chatbots of Private Companies in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-29, July.
    18. San-Martín, Sonia & Jiménez, Nadia & Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco, 2020. "Tourism value VS barriers to booking trips online," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    19. He, Yuan & Li, Ke & Wang, Yipan, 2022. "Crossing the digital divide: The impact of the digital economy on elderly individuals’ consumption upgrade in China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. Chong, Lee-Lee & Ong, Hway-Boon & Tan, Siow-Hooi, 2021. "Acceptability of mobile stock trading application: A study of young investors in Malaysia," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0268942. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.