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Will domestic robotics enter our houses? : a study of implicit and explicit associations and attitudes towards domestic robotics.

Lutfi, S. (2012) Will domestic robotics enter our houses? : a study of implicit and explicit associations and attitudes towards domestic robotics.

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Abstract:	Domestic robots have the potential to become of great importance within the lives of consumers. With the use of novel technology, domestic robots are introduced within real-life settings such as: hospitals, nursing homes and domestic environments. However, when domestic robots have to become a success, it is needed to investigate whether consumers will accept these products within their personal domestic environment. Existing literature on robotic research have focused mainly on technology issues, design and the human-robot interaction. Especially human-robot interaction has gained a lot of attention, because this is based on the high expectations of people towards human-like capabilities. The present will take another view. The present study will therefore examine consumers’ acceptance of domestic robots by using the technology acceptance model (TAM), introduced by Davis (1989). Basic principle of TAM is that this model proposes that consumers’ perception of usefulness and ease of use are related to consumers’ behavioural intentions to use a certain system, such as domestic robotics. Furthermore, existing research on robotics posit that the success of domestic robots is dependent of overcoming design and technical challenges. However, the present study takes another view by examining psychological factors that are important for the success of domestic robots. Young et al. (2009) have mentioned that subjective perceptions and associations of consumers towards robots are also important of the success of the introduction of domestic robotics. This study is therefore proposed to administer both implicit and explicit measures towards robots. Implicit measures will be measured with the use of the IAT (Greenwald et al., 1998), which measures consumers implicit associations towards domestic robots. Explicit measures will be measured with the use of NARS, which measures the explicit attitudes towards robots (Nomura et al., 2005). Furthermore, assessing implicit and explicit measures towards robots could be useful, because these measures could be used as control variables for the measurement of robot anxiety. Results indicate that respondents perceive domestic robotics as being useful and easy to use, and therefore they have intentions to use them. Furthermore consumers have rather positive than negative associations towards robotics and associate robotics with household tasks rather than industrial tasks. Results also indicate that implicit measures correlate with explicit measures, which indicate that implicit measures relate to explicit measures. Results also provide more insight whether implicit or explicit measures are more relevant when assessing associations. Findings also indicate that both measures are related with robot anxiety.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	05 communication studies
Programme:	Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/62205
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