2023, Jäger, Janine, Korkut, Safak, Inglese, Terry, Schmiedel, Theresa

The paper presents a project of the School of Business of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland in which the project team is developing case study podcasts together with Swiss-based technology startups to apply them in case-based teaching in Business and Information Systems study programs. The goal of the project is to facilitate students' access to case study contexts by allowing them to listen to podcasts for self-study and develop solutions for practice-oriented business and technology challenges in the classroom and guided group work. This provides an engaging blended learning approach for the students through increased motivation to consume the learning material as well as a deeper connection to the study material, compared to the more commonly applied text-based case studies. This can enable much more productive classroom discussions and group work and could therefore provide improved learning outcomes, such as increased reflection, critical thinking, as well as analytical and problem-solving skills. The paper enriches the blended learning debate with details about the case study podcast production from a content-related, technological and didactical perspective as well as provides insights into the planned evaluation of the application of case study podcasts with regard to learning outcomes.

2021, Sabbioni, Giordano, Zhong, Jia, Jäger, Janine, Schmiedel, Theresa, Ahram, Tareq, Taiar, Redha

The present study demonstrates the ongoing development of a service robot application in a campus library through the application of Design Science Research (DSR) combined with user-centered design (UCD). In particular, we involved librarians and co-created an application solution addressing two use cases: giving directions to a desired subject area/book and providing recommendations for an event/book. Additionally, we involved potential end users to evaluate the robot artifact through an onsite usability test (N = 14) already within the design cycle. This process resulted in a successful application of the robot artifact for the identified use cases and shows feasibility of combining DSR with UCD.

2023, Schmiedel, Theresa, Jäger, Janine, Zhong, Jia, Dornberger, Rolf

Die Integration von sozialen Robotern in Unternehmen nimmt stetig zu. Das bedeutet, dass es in Zukunft einen vermehrten Einsatz von physisch verkörperten Robotern geben wird, die mit Menschen sozial interagieren und zusammenarbeiten. In diesem Kapitel skizzieren wir die organisatorischen Kontexte, in denen die aktuelle Forschung soziale Roboter untersucht, und weisen auf kulturelle Herausforderungen hinsichtlich ihrer Implementierung am Arbeitsplatz hin. Wir legen nahe, dass die erfolgreiche Integration von sozialen Robotern in Organisationen eine kulturelle Passung zwischen den in sozialen Robotern eingebetteten Werten und den im organisatorischen Kontext, in dem der Roboter eingesetzt wird, gelebten Werten erfordert. Darüber hinaus schlagen wir eine Agenda für zukünftige Forschung vor, die sich mit den wertebasierten kulturellen Herausforderungen bei der Einführung von sozialen Robotern in organisatorischen Kontexten befasst.

2020, Schmiedel, Theresa, Jäger, Janine, Zhong, Jia, Dornberger, Rolf

The integration of social robots in organizations is on the rise. In the future, an increase in the application of physically embodied robots who socially interact and collaborate with humans is expected. In this chapter, we outline the organizational contexts in which current research examines social robots and point out cultural challenges regarding their implementation in the workplace. We suggest that the successful integration of social robots in organizations requires a cultural fit between values embedded in social robots and values lived in the organizational context in which the robot is deployed. In addition, we propose an agenda for future research that addresses the associated cultural challenges of introducing social robots into organizational contexts.

2022, Zhong, Jia, Mürset, Nicolas, Jäger, Janine, Schmiedel, Theresa

Like in human-human interaction, people tend to interact in human-robot settings with those they like. Therefore, it is important to understand what variables affect robot likeability. The present study aims at providing insights into how robots’ anthropomorphism, voice, gestures, approaching behaviors as well as perceived warmth and competence play a role in robot likeability. We conducted an online survey (N=191) studying two humanoid robots with different characteristics. Our exploratory study empirically indicates that the investigated variables are significantly correlated with robot likeability for both robots but with differing strengths. Further, the likeability of the two robots is predicted by differing variables, with robot voice being the only common predictor for both robots.