News Blog - Innovation Acceptance Lab

May 17, 2023February 9, 2023

User acceptance of autonomous delivery robots in different application contexts

Recently, autonomous robots have been utilized increasingly for the delivery of food and packages. Even though these electrically powered vehicles have been used in the U.S. since 2018, pilot projects are just now becoming more popular in Germany. Due to their advantages for customers and society as a whole, delivery robots could become an important aspect of the scenery in future cities. More specifically, deliveries carried out by autonomous robots are environmentally friendlier and an efficient answer to the growing number of online deliveries. Furthermore, customers expect high flexibility as well as fast, but less-costly deliveries – demands which can be met by autonomous robots. However, user acceptance is essential for the successful implementation of this innovation. So far, user acceptance research surrounding autonomous delivery robots is limited and there is little empirical literature considering different application scenarios of the technology. Thus, two students of our business psychology program investigated factors influencing the customers’ acceptance of autonomous robots for last mile transportation of goods with a focus on current as well as potential future application scenarios.

Continue reading “User acceptance of autonomous delivery robots in different application contexts”

May 5, 2023May 5, 2023

How do humans perceive art created by Artificial Intelligence?

“Artificial intelligence” (AI) is ubiquitous in our everyday lives these days. While the technology is incorporated not only into smartphones, translators, voice assistants and self-driving cars, it has now also pathed its way into the art world. For instance, AI is able to recreate paintings of well-established artists (Iansiti & Lakhani, 2020), but can generate original art styles (Schwab, 2017), songs (Vincent, 2016), or poems as well (Gibbs, 2016). It is usually impossible for people to distinguish between human-made and AI-created art, hence, they often place high artistic (Elgammal et al., 2017) as well as monetary value on AI artwork (BBC, 2018). A recent study titled “Defending humankind: Anthropocentric bias in the appreciation of AI art” published in Computers in Human Behavior investigated how people react to art created by AI systems and labeled as such, compared to artwork labeled as human-made.

Click here to access the original publication.

Continue reading “How do humans perceive art created by Artificial Intelligence?”

April 19, 2023January 5, 2023

What makes the implementation of collaboration tools successful? – A case study on employees’ acceptance when introducing MS Teams

Since the 1980s, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) technologies have been developed and increasingly utilized to ensure digital collaboration of employees within and between organizations. The need for ways to work remotely and time-independently across various countries requires the implementation of digital collaboration tools now more than ever. Besides, the global Corona pandemic required a quick and efficient response of companies worldwide which served as a ”digitalization booster” regarding digital and remote working. Yet, the employees’ missing acceptance and corresponding resistance towards using these tools represents a substantial obstacle for organizations. Hence, employers need to consider which implementation measures are effective in securing acceptance and successful adaptation of novel technologies.

Continue reading “What makes the implementation of collaboration tools successful? – A case study on employees’ acceptance when introducing MS Teams”

March 15, 2023December 23, 2022

First empirical insights into the user acceptance of hyperloop

Innovative mobility concepts have repeatedly been the subject of our research. This blog post summarizes the study results on the acceptance of hyperloop, a transportation method based on low pressure tubes and a magnetic levitation belt. Hyperloop promises a faster and more energy-efficient alternative, especially compared to airplanes. As with most innovations, one major challenge is gaining the acceptance of (potential) users. Due to the limited knowledge among the general public and little research around hyperloop, this study aimed at identifying the factors impacting user acceptance of hyperloop while focusing on different levels of the users’ knowledge about them.

Continue reading “First empirical insights into the user acceptance of hyperloop”

February 22, 2023December 23, 2022

Sustainable consumption series part 3: Does it have to be quality seals? – Alternative packaging design elements

Blog series part 1

Blog series part 2

As we have mentioned, quality seals and clean labels require specific conditions to be met whereby companies need to consider their individual trade-off between the potential positive effects on consumer perceptions and the resources needed to fulfil their requirements. From a company’s perspective, meeting these requirements potentially leads to higher costs, for instance. Thus, as not all companies utilize quality seals on their packaging, we would like to answer the question of how relevant quality seals and labels are in comparison to other design elements in terms of sustainability or naturalness. How effective are quality seals compared to alternatives?

Continue reading “Sustainable consumption series part 3: Does it have to be quality seals? – Alternative packaging design elements”

February 1, 2023December 23, 2022

Sustainable consumption series part 2: Do all quality seals achieve the same effect? – Implications for companies

In our first post of the sustainable consumption blog series, we concluded that quality seals communicate sustainability, but consumers have limited knowledge of their meaning and an overly positive image of them. To draw more specific implications, we attempt to answer the question which quality seals and labels consumers accept the most when buying products. Do all quality seals serve the same positive effect? Finding answers to this question is especially relevant for companies as various quality seals require different levels of conditions to be met.

Continue reading “Sustainable consumption series part 2: Do all quality seals achieve the same effect? – Implications for companies”

January 11, 2023December 23, 2022

Sustainable consumption series part 1: Do quality seals communicate sustainability? – The consumers‘ perspective

According to the United Nations (Hoballah & Averous, 2015), sustainable consumption is an integral part in ensuring that human actions stay within our planet’s capacity and therefore in considering the living conditions of future generations as well. As consumers, our individual buying-decisions can help fasten sustainable development in various industries making it an interesting research topic for us. Our first blog post series will summarize our research regarding quality seals, clean labels and product packaging design in the field of sustainability as well as the consumers‘ perceptions of such. Ultimately, we want to know, whether consumers accept and use quality seals in the purchase decisions. Further, we will outline implications for companies. While doing so, we will recap studies and their results in relation to each topic.

Continue reading “Sustainable consumption series part 1: Do quality seals communicate sustainability? – The consumers‘ perspective”

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022

TEDxStuttgart: Prof. Dr. Patrick Planing – How psychology influences innovation

On October 8, 2022, mobility and acceptance researcher Prof. Dr. Patrick Planing presented his TED talk at the Liederhalle Stuttgart focusing on the question who decides which innovations humans will accept and use in the future.

Is it really strategists, inventors, founders and CEOs who tell us what our mobility will look like in 10 or 20 years? Or do we as consumers have more influence on the future than we might realize? Answers to these questions can be found in the following video.

Attention: The TED talk is presented in German.

November 23, 2022February 10, 2023

Does virtual reality aid in realistically testing the acceptance of new innovations? – A case study on the acceptance of air taxis

Innovations in the area of mobility often take years, sometimes decades, to become reality. Developing technologies over such long time spans is a risk, since it is unclear whether the public will accept the new technology, once available. This raises the question whether it is possible to evaluate the acceptance of a technology, which cannot yet be tested under real live conditions. Industry and researchers have come up with different solutions to this challenge, using descriptions, sometimes pictures and increasingly also videos and virtual reality demonstrations of the new technology.

Continue reading “Does virtual reality aid in realistically testing the acceptance of new innovations? – A case study on the acceptance of air taxis”