Author:
Aaen Jon,Nielsen Jeppe Agger
Abstract
Public sector organizations increasingly engage in robotic innovation projects to assist or substitute for humans in service delivery. However, transitioning small-scale development projects into a large-scale context is a notoriously difficult task that often fails, with many promising robotic projects becoming lost in the diffusion “chasm.” We investigate a failed robotic diffusion project to analyze what went wrong and what can be learned from it. Despite an increased interest in learning from public sector digitalization failure, little attention has been paid to how and why seemingly successful service robot initiatives fail to move beyond the pilot stage. We identify three types of explanations for diffusion failure using an in-depth case study of a service robot initiative in the Danish eldercare sector that had a high degree of management support and commitment from key stakeholders. Our analysis demonstrates how the failure was caused by interrelated and context-specific reasons regarding the lack of technological maturity of the service robot (technology-oriented explanations), inadequate problem-solution fit in the conceptual design (scope-oriented explanations), and misalignment between the robot company and public sector organization mindsets (competing logic-oriented explanations). We outline the lessons learned for public sector digitalization and discuss the paradox between the hype surrounding robot innovations and their slow diffusion.
Subject
Public Administration,Sociology and Political Science,Communication,Information Systems
Reference51 articles.
1. 10 år med velfærdsteknologi: Strategi og praksis [10 years with welfare technology: Strategy and practice];Aaen;Samfundslederskab i Skandinavien,2018
2. Shadow learning: Building robotic surgical skill when approved means fail;Beane;Administrative Science Quarterly,2019
3. Care robots for the supermarket shelf: A product gap in assistive technologies;Blackman;Ageing and Society,2013
4. Service robots: Value co-creation and co-destruction in elderly care networks;Čaić;Journal of Service Management,2018
5. Cho, S., Mathiassen, L., & Gallivan, M. (2009), Crossing the diffusion chasm: From invention to penetration of a telehealth innovation. Information Technology & People, 22(4), 351-366.
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献