Perceived creepiness in response to smart home assistants: A multi-method study

Smart home assistants (SHAs) have gained a foothold in many households. Although SHAs have many beneficial capabilities, they also have characteristics that are colloquially described as creepy – a fact that may deter potential users from adopting and utilizing them. Previous research has examined SHAs neither from the perspective of resistance nor the perspective of creepiness. The present research addresses this gap and adopts a multi-method research design with four sequential studies. Study 1 serves as a pre-study and provides initial exploratory insights into the concept of creepiness in the context of SHAs. Study 2 focuses on developing a measurement instrument to assess perceived creepiness. Study 3 uses an online experiment to test the nomological validity of the construct of creepiness in a larger conceptual model. Study 4 further elucidates the underlying behavioral dynamics using focus group analysis. The findings contribute to the literature on the dark side of smart technology by analyzing the triggers and mechanisms underlying perceived creepiness as a novel inhibitor to SHAs. In addition, this study provides actionable design recommendations that allow practitioners to mitigate end users’ potential perceptions of creepiness associated with SHAs and similar smart technologies

INTRUSIVE SMART HOME ASSISTANTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY AND SCALE DEVELOPMENT

Despite having many useful capabilities, more recently smart home assistants (SHAs) have also raised negative feelings and doubts which may cause resistance among potential users. However, current research has neither examined SHAs from the perspective of resistance nor its specific drivers (inhibitors). We address this gap and adopt a mixed-method research design with two studies that build on each other. Study 1 (N=10) elicits the belief structures underlying resistance to SHAs. Study 2 (N=276) builds on these findings and delves deeper into the understanding of one novel identified inhibitor, namely “perceived intrusion”, by taking initial strides towards creating a measurement instrument. Our results contribute to the previously under-researched “dark side” of smart consumer IT by examining the phenomenon of resistance. This way, we hope to inspire future research to expand on our findings, as well as apply our measurement instrument in other smart product contexts

Are You Trying to Be Funny? The Impact of Affiliative Humor of Smart Home Technologies on Human-Like Trust

Smart home technologies (SHTs) perform tasks in the most intimate areas of life and therefore require blind user trust from the start. To build this trust, vendors often rely on creating human-like interactions with devices, such as by incorporating humor. Although humor in SHTs is becoming more advanced, e.g., through advanced joke selection algorithms, its actual impact is largely unexplored. In this work, we address this gap and study the impact of affiliative humor as a human-like characteristic on perceived social presence and initial trust in SHTs. To this end, we conducted a vignette-based experiment with potential users (N=63). Our results contribute by uncovering the mechanisms underlying humor as a trust-building characteristic in SHTs. Moreover, in this way, we also provide important insights for the design and communication of SHTs, which can be valuable for vendors to foster perceived human-likeness and thus initial user trust in smart technologies

DESIGN THINKING IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

Design thinking (DT) as an innovation method has gained increasing importance in recent years, both for traditional and digital products. However, the rapid acceleration of digitalization across all domains of the modern working world has changed the way innovation management and DT are conducted. As a result, highly interactive offline workshops have been replaced by remote online workshops, which are supported by digital tools. This radical shift warrants a reconsideration of the potentially socio-psychological dynamics within DT workshops. To address this, we conducted 16 qualitative in-depth interviews with DT experts from different backgrounds and contextualized our interview findings with construal level theory and embodied cognition. Thus, we show how the DT process is affected by the changing socio-psychological dynamics created by the shift to digital environments. In sum, we identify both chances and challenges of DT in digital environments and derive implications for future research and practice in this area

Mit Process Mining helfen wir, den CO2-Ausstoss zu verringern

Gegründet von drei Studenten hat sich Celonis von einem Start-up zu einem der schnellsten wachsenden Software-Unternehmen in Europa entwickelt. Ihre Process-Mining-Software, kann auch in der nachhaltigen Wirtschaft eingesetzt werden. Seit kurzem ist das Unternehmen Partner der BFH. Unser Autor hat mit der Leiterin des firmeninternen Academic Alliance Team für EMEA & APAC, Angela Gebert gesprochen. Celonis ist spezialisiert auf Process Mining-Technologie. Was ist Ihre Rolle bei der fortschreitenden Digitalisierung unserer Gesellschaft und Geschäftswelt

Should service firms introduce algorithmic advice to their existing customers? The moderating effect of service relationships

An increasing number of service firms are introducing algorithmic advice to their customers. In this research, we examine the introduction of such tools from a relational perspective and show that the type of relationship a customer has with a service firm moderates his or her response to algorithmic advice. Studies 1 and 2 find that customers in communal relationships are more reluctant to use algorithmic advice instead of human advice than customers in exchange relationships. Study 3 shows that offering customers algorithmic advice may harm communal relationships but not exchange relationships. Building on these findings, Studies 4, 5, and 6 examine how firms can mitigate the potentially negative relational consequences of algorithmic advice. While a fallback option that signals that customers can request additional human advice if needed is effective in preventing relational damages in communal relationships, this same intervention backfires in exchange relationships. These findings have important implications by showing that managers need to consider the relational consequences of introducing algorithmic advice to existing customers

Digital orientation and environmental performance in times of technological change

Digitalization is increasingly seen as a strategic means for firms to yield competitive and environmental advantages. Still, current empirical research does not yet provide ample evidence on how a firm's strategic posture towards digitalization connects to environmental performance. This study examines the link between digital orientation and environmental performance as well as the moderating role of technological turbulence. The natural-resource-based view and literature on strategic orientations provide the conceptual foundations. The hypotheses are tested with data from 515 U.S. Standard and Poor's 500 companies with 2,800 firm observations from 2009 to 2019. The results indicate that, first, a firm's digital orientation has a significant and positive effect on environmental performance and, second, this effect is even more pronounced in technologically turbulent business environments. In sum, our findings suggest that managers can improve their firm's environmental performance and competitive position by increasing the digital orientation within their organizations. We thus add to the literature on the natural-resource-based view by identifying digital orientation as a strategy aligned with the natural environment. Finally, we derive practical implications for managers and policymakers aiming to bring together digitalization and green strategies

The effect of hot isostatic pressing on surface integrity, microstructure and strength of hybrid metal injection moulding and laser-based powder bed fusion stainless-steel components

Hybrid manufacture of components by combining capabilities of replication and additive manufacturing processes offer a flexible and sustainable route for producing cost-effectively small batches of metal parts. At present, there are open issues related to surface integrity and performance of such parts, especially when utilising them in safety critical applications. The research presented in this paper investigates the ductility amplification of hybrid components produced using metal injection moulding to preform and then build on them customisable sections by laser-based powder bed fusion. The properties of such hybrid components are studied and optimised through the use of non-conventional post treatment techniques. In particular, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is employed to improve mechanical strength and to produce hybrid components that have consistent properties across batches and throughout the samples, minimising microstructural heterogeneities between fabrication processes. Thus, the investigated post-processing method can offer an extended service life of hybrid components, especially when operating under severe conditions. The optimised post treatment was found to increase the hybrid components’ strength compared to as-built ones by 68% and ~11% in yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS), respectively. Subsequently, leading to a great pitting resistance, thus, making HIP samples suitable for corrosive environments. The advantages of the HIP treatments in comparison to the conventional heat treatment of hybrid components are discussed and also some potential application areas are proposed