Trusting Robots in Teams: Examining the Impacts of Trusting Robots on Team Performance and Satisfaction

Despite the widespread use of robots in teams, there is still much to learn about what facilitates better performance in these teams working with robots. Although trust has been shown to be a strong predictor of performance in all-human teams, we do not fully know if trust plays the same critical role in teams working with robots. This study examines how to facilitate trust and its importance on the performance of teams working with robots. A 2 (robot identification vs. no robot identification) × 2 (team identification vs. no team identification) between-subjects experiment with 54 teams working with robots was conducted. Results indicate that robot identification increased trust in robots and team identification increased trust in one’s teammates. Trust in robots increased team performance while trust in teammates increased satisfaction

Trusting Robots in Teams: Examining the Impacts of Trusting Robots on Team Performance and Satisfaction

Despite the widespread use of robots in teams, there is still much to learn about what facilitates better performance in these teams working with robots. Although trust has been shown to be a strong predictor of performance in all-human teams, we do not fully know if trust plays the same critical role in teams working with robots. This study examines how to facilitate trust and its importance on the performance of teams working with robots. A 2 (robot identification vs. no robot identification) × 2 (team identification vs. no team identification) between-subjects experiment with 54 teams working with robots was conducted. Results indicate that robot identification increased trust in robots and team identification increased trust in one’s teammates. Trust in robots increased team performance while trust in teammates increased satisfaction.http://doi.org/10.24251/hicss.2019.031Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145619/1/You and Robert 2019 (Preprint).pd

The temporal dimension of copresence in medical practice: the case of telestroke

This paper examines how co-presence is enacted in technology-mediated medical practices, particularly under time pressure. Extant literature highlights time (e.g. immediacy and duration of interactions) as a critical condition for copresence, but there has been little attention to the variation of copresence over time. In this paper, we investigate this variation through an ethnographic study in three emergency departments that are linked via a telemedicine system called Telestroke, which is used to diagnose and treat stroke patients at a distance. We draw on the sensemaking literature to uncover how copresence is enacted across different phases of technology-mediated medical practice. Our findings reveal four mechanisms that shape the variation of copresence across time, namely extracting cues, retrospection, perspective-taking, and selective attention.

Robomorphism: Examining the effects of telepresence robots on between-student cooperation

The global pandemic has stressed the value of working remotely, also in higher education. This development sparks the growing use of telepresence robots, which allow students with prolonged sickness to interact with other students and their teacher remotely. Although telepresence robots are developed to facilitate virtual inclusion, empirical evidence is lacking whether these robots actually enable students to better cooperate with their fellow students compared to other technologies, such as videoconferencing. Therefore, the aim of this research is to compare mediated student interaction supported by a telepresence robot with mediated student interaction supported by videoconferencing. To do so, we conducted an experiment (N = 122) in which participants pairwise and remotely worked together on an assignment, either by using a telepresence robot (N = 58) or by using videoconferencing (N = 64). The findings showed that students that made use of the robot (vs. videoconferencing) experienced stronger feelings of social presence, but also attributed more robotic characteristics to their interaction partner (i.e., robomorphism). Yet, the negative effects of the use of a telepresence robot on cooperation through robomorphism is compensated by the positive effects through social presence. Our study shows that robomorphism is an important concept to consider when studying the effect of human-mediated robot interaction. Designers of telepresence robots should make sure to stimulate social presence, while mitigating possible adverse effects of robomorphism

Collaborative information behaviour in completely online groups : exploring the social dimensions of information in virtual environments

Presented at the 7th International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, Paris (France), on May the 27th, 2015Teamwork is encouraged nowadays as an imperative skill to better perform all critical factors, including information, that are involved in the project-based structures of many organizations. Due to the inherently collaborative nature of group activities, when groups search, retrieve, manage and disseminate information, new relationships with information emerge which result in collaborative informational behaviours. The aim of this research was to study a specific case of collaborative information behaviour in completely online groups, which initiated, developed and completed a teamwork project in the virtual learning environment of the Open University of Catalonia‟s Virtual Campus. The study methodologically developed a multidimensional analytical approach, built from a set of twelve interrelated variables in three dimensions. A field study was conducted using virtual ethnographic techniques. Findings reveal that the collaborative information behaviour in completely online groups seems to be particularly influenced by the factors related to the internal group dynamics (e.g. leadership style, degree of cohesion, or group rules)

The Role of Motivational Systems and Emotions in Virtual Work

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the behavioural activation system (BAS), the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) and emotions in virtual work. BIS was found to have significant positive relationships with anger, anxiety, annoyance, nervousness, and distress. There were indications of emotional contagion between research confederates and participants. Self-report skill knowledge and the skill role of the research confederate both had significant relationships with performance. Self-report skill knowledge was fully mediated by the skill role played by the research confederate. Managers of virtual teams need to be aware of individual differences such as motivational systems and how these interact with state emotions and performance

VIRTUAL TEAM INTERACTIONS: DO THEY HELP OR HINDER INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION?

A lack of trust, communication breakdowns, or badly integrated team members are a few of the reasons why a team can fail. To address whether leader and team member perceptions of communication within the team are similar, this study explores interpersonal communications among leadership and team members and considers whether today’s technology helps or hinders successful knowledge sharing and relationship building within virtual teams

Virtual Teams in The University: A Critical Literature Review and A Research Agenda

The incentives for the internationalization of universities and the digitalization of teaching driven by the situation of COVID-19 have increased the operation of virtual work teams in higher education institutions, both in terms of groups of students and groups of researchers. The objective of this study is to explore the evolution of academic research concerning virtual teams within university settings, aiming to delineate prominent research trajectories and outline a prospective agenda for future inquiry in this domain. This work involved a systematic review of the literature in the WoS and Scopus databases to identify what, when, who, where and how virtual teams in universities have been researched. The PRISMA method was used to guide the data collection process. Forty-seven articles were identified as relevant for analysis. Despite the significant development of academic research on virtual teams since the end of the last century, the necessary attention has still not been given to the specific case of virtual teams in universities. Most of the research has been conducted in the United States; however, previous research reveals that cultural aspects are relevant variables in the performance and efficiency of virtual teams, so it is advisable to extend this type of research to other countries and cultural contexts. In addition, we can also see that most of the works identified have analysed work teams formed by students, and there are very few studies on virtual teams of researchers, despite the importance of these teams in the context of encouraging the internationalization of research networks. Moreover, the review of the content of the articles as well as the future lines of research have been organized around a life cycle model, considering three categories: inputs, operating process and outputs-results. The second category is the most developed to date

Preserving corporate reputation in the social media era

This study examines the importance of financial institutions\u27 (banks\u27) use of social networking sites to cater to their customers and stakeholders\u27 inquiries to protect their corporate reputation online. Three top U.S. banks\u27 publicly-accessible Twitter feeds were used to analyze how the banks use Twitter to build customer relationships and provide quality service for a more positive outlook of their reputation. A content analysis of the banks\u27 Twitter feeds was conducted to determine the most common usage of Twitter in relation to the quality of service provided online. The findings show that customers use Twitter to find answers to their banking questions and as a source of expressing their thoughts and emotions about a product or service offered by the bank. Overall, Twitter is serving as a hub for real-time communication between banks and their customers, performing similar tasks as traditional communication media. The results suggest that companies should invest the time to reach out via this online stream to their customers in order to preserve their reputations from negative publicity online. A method of accomplishing this is through building and maintaining positive relationships with their customers

Comparing Approaches to Virtual Team Onboarding: the Influence of Synchrony and Cues on Impressions of Leaders During Encounter Phase Organizational Socialization

Whether fully virtual or a hybrid of virtual and face-to-face teams, more organizations use computer-mediated communication than ever before. Under the right circumstances, virtual team environments have been shown to increase employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity (Gallup, 2020). However, there is also consensus that virtual teams take longer to get work done and miscommunicate more frequently than face-to-face teams (Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020). While there is no silver bullet to resolve these shortcomings, one potential area for intervention is during new employee onboarding. This study tests the hyperpersonal model and social presence theory’s application to virtual team onboarding by examining how message characteristics (synchronicity and degree of nonverbal cues) affect new employees’ sense of safety and impressions of their managers during their first moments on the job. The study finds no relationship between synchronicity and degree of nonverbal cues on employees’ sense of safety or impression of their managers. However, the study finds a marginally significant negative interaction effect between synchronicity and low nonverbal cues on impressions of virtual team leaders’ relational communication. Theoretical and practical implications for virtual team onboarding are discussed