What drives job satisfaction in IT companies?

Moro, S., Ramos, R. F., & Rita, P. (2021). What drives job satisfaction in IT companies? International Journal Of Productivity And Performance Management, 70(2), 391-407. [Advanced online publication on 19 March 2020]. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-03-2019-0124Purpose: Strategic goal achievement in every sector of a company relies fundamentally on the firm's employees. This study aims to disclose the factors that spur employees of major Information Technology (IT) companies in the United States (US). Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, 15,000 reviews from the top 15 United States IT companies were collected from the social media platform Glassdoor to uncover the factors that satisfy IT employees. To learn the most meaningful features that influence the scores, positive and negative remarks, as well as advice to the management team, were analyzed through a support vector machine. Findings: Results highlight a positive attitude of coworkers, contributing to a positive environment and job satisfaction. However, unsatisfied IT employees reveal that work exhaustion is the main reason for their job dissatisfaction. Practical implications: IT human resource departments can use these valuable insights to align their strategies in accordance with their employees' desires and expectations in order to thrive. Originality/value: The study highlights the relevance of IT companies to understand the reasons behind their employees' satisfaction. Up until now, little is known concerning the variants of job satisfaction among IT employees, enriching the understanding in this particular professional area.authorsversionpublishe

“Hit the robot on the head with this mallet” – making a case for including more open questions in HRI research

Researchers continue to devise creative ways to explore the extent to which people perceive robots as social agents, as opposed to objects. One such approach involves asking participants to inflict ‘harm’ on a robot. Researchers are interested in the length of time between the experimenter issuing the instruction and the participant complying, and propose that relatively long periods of hesitation might reflect empathy for the robot, and perhaps even attribution of human-like qualities, such as agency and sentience. In a recent experiment, we adapted the so-called ‘hesitance to hit’ paradigm, in which participants were instructed to hit a humanoid robot on the head with a mallet. After standing up to do so (signaling intent to hit the robot), participants were stopped, and then took part in a semi-structured interview to probe their thoughts and feelings during the period of hesitation. Thematic analysis of the responses indicate that hesitation not only reflects perceived socialness, but also other factors including (but not limited to) concerns about cost, mallet disbelief, processing of the task instruction, and the influence of authority. The open-ended, free responses participants provided also offer rich insights into individual differences with regards to anthropomorphism, perceived power imbalances, and feelings of connection toward the robot. In addition to aiding understanding of this measurement technique and related topics regarding socialness attribution to robots, we argue that greater use of open questions can lead to exciting new research questions and interdisciplinary collaborations in the domain of social robotics

A survey of the use of crowdsourcing in software engineering

The term 'crowdsourcing' was initially introduced in 2006 to describe an emerging distributed problem-solving model by online workers. Since then it has been widely studied and practiced to support software engineering. In this paper we provide a comprehensive survey of the use of crowdsourcing in software engineering, seeking to cover all literature on this topic. We first review the definitions of crowdsourcing and derive our definition of Crowdsourcing Software Engineering together with its taxonomy. Then we summarise industrial crowdsourcing practice in software engineering and corresponding case studies. We further analyse the software engineering domains, tasks and applications for crowdsourcing and the platforms and stakeholders involved in realising Crowdsourced Software Engineering solutions. We conclude by exposing trends, open issues and opportunities for future research on Crowdsourced Software Engineering

New approaches to the emerging social neuroscience of human-robot interaction

Prehistoric art, like the Venus of Willendorf sculpture, shows that we have always looked for ways to distil fundamental human characteristics and capture them in physically embodied representations of the self. Recently, this undertaking has gained new momentum through the introduction of robots that resemble humans in their shape and their behaviour. These social robots are envisioned to take on important roles: alleviate loneliness, support vulnerable children and serve as helpful companions for the elderly. However, to date, few commercially available social robots are living up to these expectations. Given their importance for an ever older and more socially isolated society, rigorous research at the intersection of psychology, social neuroscience and human-robot interaction is needed to determine to which extent mechanisms active during human-human interaction can be co-opted when we encounter social robots. This thesis takes an anthropocentric approach to answering the question how socially motivated we are to interact with humanoid robots. Across three empirical and one theoretical chapter, I use self-report, behavioural and neural measures relevant to the study of interactions with robots to address this question. With the Social Motivation Theory of Autism as a point of departure, the first empirical chapter (Chapter 3) investigates the relevance of interpersonal synchrony for human-robot interaction. This chapter reports a null effect: participants did not find a robot that synchronised its movement with them on a drawing task more likeable, nor were they more motivated to ask it more questions in a semi-structured interaction scenario. As this chapter heavily relies on self-report as a main outcome measure, Chapter 4 addresses this limitation by adapting an established behavioural paradigm for the study of human-robot interaction. This chapter shows that a failure to conceptually extend an effect in the field of social attentional capture calls for a different approach when seeking to adapt paradigms for HRI. Chapter 5 serves as a moment of reflection on the current state-of-the-art research at the intersection of neuroscience and human-robot interaction. Here, I argue that the future of HRI research will rely on interaction studies with mobile brain imaging systems (like functional near-infrared spectroscopy) that allow data collection during embodied encounters with social robots. However, going forward, the field should slowly and carefully move outside of the lab and into real situations with robots. As the previous chapters have established, well-known effects have to be replicated before they are implemented for robots, and before they are taken out of the lab, into real life. The final empirical chapter (Chapter 6), takes the first step of this proposed slow approach: in addition to establishing the detection rate of a mobile fNIRS system in comparison to fMRI, this chapter contributes a novel way to digitising optode positions by means of photogrammetry. In the final chapter of this thesis, I highlight the main lessons learned conducting studies with social robots. I propose an updated roadmap which takes into account the problems raised in this thesis and emphasise the importance of incorporating more open science practices going forward. Various tools that emerged out of the open science movement will be invaluable for researchers working on this exciting, interdisciplinary endeavour

Bonding with Robotic Pets. Children’s Cognitions, Emotions and Behaviors towards Pet-Robots. Applications in a Robot Assisted Quality of Life Intervention in a Pediatric Hospital

[eng] This dissertation addresses the emergence of emotional involvement in the interaction with social robots. More specifically, we investigate the dynamics of children bonding with robotic pets to design robot based programs to improve patients’ experience in pediatric hospitals. Pet-robots are robots that mimic real pets as dogs or cats, both in appearance and in behavior. We assume that gaining understanding of the emotional dimension of children/pet-robots interaction would contribute to evaluate the impact of pet-robots in children’s lives, and to inform both robots’ design and robot-based applications for health and wellbeing. First, this research presents a novel model of bonding with robotic pets inspired in the human-animal affiliation and particularly in child-dog relatedness, where bonding is envisaged as a process towards companionship that evolves through three stages –first impression, short-term interaction and lasting relationship- characterized by distinguishable patterns of behaviors, cognitions and feelings that can be identified and measured. Secondly, a behavioral analysis of children interacting with the Pleo robot -a robotic pet shaped as a baby dinosaur-, with an emphasis on the interactional surface and particularly on the sequences of dyad’s reciprocal exchange is presented. The outcomes are twofold: the ethograms and coding schemes of Pleo’s and children’s behaviors and a higher level categorization of behaviors involved in bond forming that can be applied to other platforms and users. Thirdly, a naturalistic study carried out in a pediatric hospital to observe the interactive practices with the Pleo robot in the wild and to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a Pleo-based intervention to accompany children is analyzed and discussed. Inspired on the beneficial effects of real pets’ company, the study consisted in an intensive ethnography, a systematic observation of a group play session and a follow-up case study of an experience of adopting a Pleo. Our results show that the key mechanism driving bond forming is the robot’s capability to deploy credible attachment behaviors –proximity seeking and resource soliciting- that elicit complementary nurturing and play behaviors in children. Beyond the novelty effect, self-reinforcing processes as learning and evolution can keep children engaged in rewarding interaction with the robot over time. Moreover, Pleo’s versatility allows diverse modalities of interaction and individual and group play, satisfying different needs as company, technological curiosity, entertainment and social facilitation both for normatively developed children and for children with special needs and their families. In general, the introduction of robot-based play was regarded by the hospital professionals not only as compatible with their daily day practice but valuable as a regular resource to smooth children’s stay at the hospital.[cat] Aquesta tesi aborda el sorgiment de la implicació emocional en la interacció amb els robots socials. Més específicament, s'investiga la dinàmica de la afiliació dels nens amb les mascotes robòtiques – robots que evoquen els animals de companyia- per tal de dissenyar programes basats en robots per millorar l'experiència dels pacients en els hospitals pediàtrics. Considerem que investigar la dimensió emocional de la interacció nen/robots-mascota contribuirà a avaluar-ne el seu impacte en la vida del nens i nenes, i a informar el disseny d’aquests robots i de les aplicacions que se’n deriven per a la seva salut i benestar. A partir d’un model evolutiu original de vinculació nen-robot inspirat en la afiliació d'humans i animals - i més concretament, en la relació nen-gos- s’analitza el comportament de nens interactuant amb el robot Pleo –robot mascota en forma de nadó dinosaure-, amb un èmfasi en les seqüències d'intercanvi recíproc de la diada. Els resultats són de dos tipus: els etogrames del Pleo i dels nens, i una categorització conductual a més alt nivell, aplicables a altres plataformes i usuaris. A partir d’aquest estudi, s’analitza una experiència d’intervenció en un hospital pediàtric per observar les pràctiques interactives amb el robot Pleo, i per avaluar la viabilitat i l'eficàcia d'una intervenció basada en el Pleo per acompanyar els nens. Inspirat en els efectes beneficiosos de la companyia de mascotes reals, l'estudi va consistir en una etnografia, una anàlisi observacional d'una sessió de joc en grup amb el robot, i un estudi de cas longitudinal d'una experiència d’adopció d’un Pleo. Els resultats mostren que l’aspecte clau que impulsa la formació del vincle és la capacitat del robot per desplegar conductes d’aferrament creïbles –cerca de proximitat i sol·licitud de recursos- que provoquen comportaments complementaris de criança i joc en els nens, més enllà de l'efecte novetat. D'altra banda, la versatilitat de Pleo permet diverses modalitats d'interacció i joc, i satisfer diferents necessitats dels usuaris, com ara companyia, curiositat, entreteniment i facilitació social, també per nens i nenes amb necessitats especials i les seves famílies. En general, la introducció del joc basat en el robot va ser considerada pels professionals de l'hospital no només compatible amb la seva pràctica professional, sinó també com un recurs valuós per alleugerir l'estada dels nens a l'hospital

Human—Robot companionship: A mixed-methods investigation

In recent years, the arts have brought robots to life in spectacular fashion. In popular fiction we have been presented with machines that can run, leap, fight, and (perhaps most impressively of all) robots which can ascend stairs with absolutely no trouble at all. Amidst these chaotic and often dystopian scenes, we are exposed to moments of humour and lightness – robots can be seen engaging in conversation, cracking jokes, and comforting someone in their time of need. In these relatively mundane moments (as we smile, laugh, and cry) the impression emerges that the robot is something special to the person depicted. Rather than simply being a household appliance, it appears to be something more: a sort of… friend. Returning from the pages and screens of fiction to the real world, we find human society ever more fractured, and the loneliness epidemic at large. Unsurprisingly, given the engaging depictions in popular fiction, the idea of robots for companionship and social support is gaining traction and garnering increasing research attention. In care homes, robot animals can be found cooing and purring in the laps of individuals with dementia, while in schools, friendly humanoid robots may be seen teaching social skills to children with additional needs. What remains unknown, though, is the extent to which people will grow fond of such ‘social robots’ over time, and if so, whether their relationships with these machines might ever resemble (or indeed, replace) those with other humans. Is a ‘robot friend’ the stuff of science-fiction, or could it someday soon become sciencereality? In this thesis, this question is explored from a range of perspectives using a variety of methods spanning lab-based experiments, online surveys, and focus groups. This thesis begins with an introduction to social robots, and an exploration of the background regarding the nature and importance of human social relationships. After introducing relevant theories, I highlight gaps in our understanding of human—robot companionship that I seek to explore through this thesis (Chapter 1). In the subsequent chapters, I present four empirical pieces of work, each offering a unique perspective on the subject. Specifically, in Chapter 2, I report results from a lab-based experiment in which a robot’s lights (located within its shoulders) were programmed to illuminate in a synchronous or asynchronous manner relative to a participant’s heart rate. I aimed to determine whether such a synchrony manipulation might increase prosocial behaviours and improve attitudes towards a social robot - based on prior work showing that experimentally-induced movement synchrony can improve rapport between people, and increase their liking of social robots (Hove & Risen, 2009; Lehmann et al., 2015, Mogan, Fischer & Bulbulia, 2017). Despite demonstrating no positive effect of the light manipulation, this study raises important questions regarding the complexities of defining and measuring attachment to a robot. In Chapter 3, I delve deeper into the qualitative data collected in Chapter 2 to build a more complete appreciation of the value of open questions – particularly in terms of method validation and understanding participants’ internal experiences. After this chapter, I shift perspective from a focus on humanoid robots (and manipulations based on human social behaviours), to human relationships with non-human companion animals. This shift was motivated by my desire to explore how non-human agents form deep and enduring social bonds with humans – as opposed to basing the thesis on human interpersonal relationships alone. Due to the success of dogs as companions, I conducted a study in which dog owners were asked to identify behaviours that they perceived as important to the bond with their dog (Chapter 4). Seven key themes emerged from this research, indicating the importance of attunement, communication, consistency and predictability, physical affection, positivity and enthusiasm, proximity, and shared activities. In the following chapter, I implement a selection of ‘desirable’ dog behaviours within an animal-inspired robot (Chapter 5). By showing the behaviours to members of the general public, and conducting focus groups, I gained deeper insights into the polarising nature of robot animals – not only in terms of how their behaviours are perceived, but also in terms of the roles people think robots should (and should not) hold. In addition to these themes, this final empirical chapter discusses insights regarding the high expectations people place upon robots, as well as public concerns around overdependence on robots, and privacy. By releasing these chapters to the HRI community (through publications or preprints) we sparked conversations within the HRI community – not only about the ethics of robot abuse studies, but also the potential value of qualitative approaches within the field. Our team was commended for publishing qualitative research, in a field heavily dominated by quantitative methods, and we have since been working to continue the conversations around the value of qualitative approaches. Specifically, we hosted the “Enriching HRI Research with Qualitative Methods” workshop at the International Journal on Social Robotics (2020) and launched a “Qualitative Research in HRI/HCI Discussion Group” online - allowing HRI researchers to discuss their work, and share relevant resources (e.g., events and publications). This thesis concludes by detailing work to be done moving forwards, to enhance our understanding of human—robot social relationships, and a broader discussion of our possible future with social robots (Chapter 6). Pulling from various disciplines (including psychology, cognitive science, human—robot interaction (HRI) Studies, robot ethics, and philosophy), this section concludes with consideration of potential consequences of companion technologies – not only for the individual, but perhaps for society as a whole, as we continue to grapple with questions concerning how much of science fiction we wish to welcome into our daily lives

Value co-creation characteristics and creativity-oriented customer citizenship behavior

For the competitive advantage of service organization, it is important to improve the creative performance of human resources in the organization. For example, when employees perform creatively, in other words, if they generate novel and useful ideas, it will contribute to organizational competiveness. Therefore, there has been an increased focus in identifying its antecedents and consequences. Unfortunately, little is known about the creative performance of customers. According to service-centered dominant logic, customer is the value co-creator, it emphasizes co-opting customer involvement in the value creation process as an additional human resource. In addition, customers can be a valuable resource for service improvement efforts for firms. For instance, companies might benefit greatly from customer feedback and complaints regarding their offerings and can enhance their productivity in terms of quality and quantity. In this paper, the type of novel, creative-oriented customer behaviors highlighted in the preceding paragraph are referred to as creativity-oriented customer citizenship behaviors (CCBs). In the customer value co-creation context, creative-oriented CCBs refer to extra-role efforts by customers with regards the development of ideas about products, practices, services, and procedures that are novel and potentially useful to a firm. According to the intrinsic motivation perspective, the context in which customers create values, influences their intrinsic motivation, which in turn affects creativity-oriented CCBs. The intrinsic motivation perspective suggests that high intrinsic motivation is affected by information from both task characteristics (i.e., autonomy) and social characteristics (e.g., supplier support). Specifically, complex and challenging task characteristics such as high levels of variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback are expected to increase customer intrinsic motivation. Under these conditions, customers should increase the likelihood of creativity-oriented CCBs. Therefore, customers are expected to be most creative when they experience a high level of intrinsic motivation. In contrast, complex and challenging task and social characteristics can have the opposite effect to customers. For example, in a high level of variety task, increased autonomy can lead to increased workload because they must take on related extra responsibilities and accountability. Increased workload, in turn, is expected to lead to decreased likelihood of creativity-oriented CCBs. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the impact of task characteristics and social characteristics on creativity-oriented CCBs. Furthermore, a substantial body of research has examined the possibility that creativity is affected by personal characteristics. As such, in addition to the relevant task and social characteristics, the moderating influence of several trait variables is also considered. This article makes several contributions. First, this study investigates the trade-off effect of the customer value co-creation related task and social characteristics by examining the underlying opposing mechanism of motivation and work overload. Second, this research provides a deeper understanding of contingency factors that systematically strengthen the relationships under consideration. Third, this study may indicate that companies seek to promote the creativity of their industrial customers and should design the tasks and social characteristics of their industrial customers in a way that maximizes their creativity. But, companies should be aware of the negative impact of specific tasks and social characteristics that may minimize the creativity of industrial customers