My Health Advisor is a Robot: Understanding Intentions to Adopt a Robotic Health Advisor

Abstract

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) have seen increased adoption in healthcare. These health technologies have the capability of providing tailored messages and feedback to each individual. Thus, a robot can potentially serve as a personal health advisor, particularly for health issues that could be benefited through regular guidance and instructions. However, there is a limited understanding of how people might respond to the idea that their health advisor could be a robot. Thus, the present study employs the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine intentions to adopt a robotic health advisor. Findings demonstrate that perceived ease of communication with and perceived usefulness of a robotic health advisor positively predict favorable attitudes toward a robotic health advisor, which subsequently leads to strong intentions to adopt it. The present investigation also finds that perceived usefulness of a robotic health advisor directly leads to an individual’s intentions to adopt it. Overall, the present study provides important implications for perceptions of a robotic health advisor.

Keywords:

• Robotic advisor
• human-machine communication
• social robots
• artificial intelligence
• health technology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jihyun Kim

Jihyun Kim is an Associate Professor in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida. Her primary research focuses on the effects and implications of new media/communication technologies for meaningful outcomes. Her research also examines human-machine communication and how humans perceive machine agents (e.g., AI, robots).

Kelly Merrill

Kelly Merrill Jr. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. His research investigates responses to stigmatization and discrimination in health and across technologies. He also studies the use of communication technologies for health benefits.

Kun Xu

Kun Xu is an Assistant Professor of Emerging Media at the College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida. His research focuses on human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, and computer-mediated communication. His work investigates how people perceive, interact with, and evaluate technologies such as social robots, virtual humans, and chatbots.

Chad Collins

Chad Collins is a communication instructor and writer based in Florida. He currently teaches at St. Johns River State College and is a teaching assistant at Arizona State University, while also serving as the Claremont Lincoln University Capstone advisor.