A conceptual model for the acceptance of collaborative robots in industry 5.0

Abstract

This study provides a holistic view of the acceptance of collaborative robots (cobots) in the manufacturing context by adopting the socio-technical perspective to the Industry 5.0 era. Grounding on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Socio-Technical Systems theory (STS), this study proposes a conceptual model to better understanding critical factors that influence the acceptance of cobots and how these factors can drive perceived work performance improvement in the organizational level. This study was conducted by catching the critical issue, reviewing the literature on the subject of this study, identifying previous research gaps, and subsequently developing constructs of the model. As a result, this study offers valuable contributions to robotics and manufacturing literature and further suggests empirical research to generally examine and validate the conceptual model.