Affiliations: [a] Department of Management, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark | [b] Department of IT Management, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark | [c] Region of Southern Denmark, Middelfart, Denmark
Abstract: The movement of robots from the production line to the service sector provides a
potentially radical solution to innovate and transform public service
delivery. Although robots are increasingly being adopted in service delivery
(e.g., health- and eldercare) to enhance and in some cases substitute
labour-intensive services, the public administration research community is
short on knowledge of the impact on the work processes carried out in public
organizations and how staff and clients react toward robots. This case study
investigates the implementation and use of robot vacuum cleaners in Danish
eldercare, demonstrating how robot vacuums have proven to have considerable
interpretive flexibility with variation in the perceived nature of
technology, technology strategy, and technology use between key stakeholders
in eldercare.
