Asymmetrical Team Dynamics: Exclusion by Robot Coworkers Hurts Less, Inclusion by Human Coworkers Satisfies More

Abstract

Nowadays, we can observe more and more work situations where humans and robots work together (e.g., in manufacturing, care, or gastronomy). Consequently, the question arises if work still satisfies fundamental social needs (e.g., belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence) or if human-robot teams make people feel excluded with severe consequences for individuals and organizations. Buildingon the temporal need-threat model, we examined restaurant employees’ reactions to social inclusion and exclusion from human or robot coworkers in two pre-registered studies (N 1 = 74; N 2 = 256). Our findings demonstrate that social inclusion from human or robot coworkers leads to higher need fulfillment, while social exclusion (ostracism and rejection) from human or robot coworkers triggers need-threat (i.e., low need fulfillment). However, the effect was more pronounced when being included or excluded by human coworkers, possibly due to more internal and uncontrollable attributions. Participants assumed interpersonal like/dislike when included/excluded by human coworkers, whereas they blamed the robots’ programming for being included or excluded by robot coworkers. Ignored participants show more organizational citizenship behavior (e.g., relieving a coworker’s workload) and less counterproductive behavior (e.g., insultinga coworker) towards their human coworkers but not towards their robot coworkers. Both studies showed that people do not mindlessly interpret robot behavior as like social behavior by humans and, therefore, demonstrate a case where the “Computers Are Social Actors” paradigm is not supported. Consequently, social dynamics within human team members should be prioritized in human-robot teams to maintain a healthy work environment.