Oral Presentation by Premilla D’Cruz¹, Ernesto Noronha¹
¹ Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India
TIME: Wednesday, 15 July, 14:30 – 16:00
Location: Room 3
Session: 15
Abstract
The rapid development of artificial intelligence has resulted in higher human-robot collaboration (HRC) at work. This paper reports a multi-site, multi-city study using photodocumentation, observation, and in-depth and photoelicitation interviews to examine human staff’s experiences of human-robot teams in front-of-house (FOH) operations in Indian restaurants. The findings showed that the introduction of robot colleagues and the division of FOH tasks between humans and robots triggered job insecurity among the already precarious human staff, reflecting the threat of the substitution/replacement hypothesis (Ali et al., 2022; Bankins et al., 2024; Lu et al., 2020). Yet, since the robots were reflexive/reactive IS agents with limited functionality (Baird and Maruping, 2021), lapses marked their task completion. Human staff, who were ever vigilant in order to ensure flawless customer service, displayed a coordination response, constantly monitoring and appraising the situation and covering up for their robot team-mates’ shortcomings. Human staff’s ensuing strain was offset by their realization that the robots’ limited functionality made them indispensable and safeguarded their employment. Nonetheless, the augmentation/enhancement hypothesis (Ali et al., 2022; Bankins et al., 2024; Lu et al., 2020) was evidenced through human staff’s learning about new technology and its functioning and troubleshooting, with them also reporting that being part of a human-robot team boosted their self-esteem. The study adds nuance to extant insights on how technology re-shapes human work, highlighting the challenges of integrating humans and robots into a coherent and seamless workgroup (You and Robert, 2023) marked by interdependence, which works jointly and cohesively towards shared purpose and responsibility (Richards, 2016; Semeraro et al., 2023). AI’s and robots’ effects on employees depends on how AI is deployed, with Industry 5.0 emphasizing the ‘human element’ to make work more sustainable. Obviously, social issues in HRC in terms of the impact on workforces and employment, warrant attention. Equally, ethical issues in HRC need to be attended to, as these are essential to ensuring that human dignity is upheld (Baltrusch et al., 2022; Dhanda et al., 2025).