Do People Trust in Robot-Assisted Surgery? Evidence from Europe

Joan Torrent-Sellens (), Ana Isabel Jiménez-Zarco and Francesc Saigí-Rubió
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Ana Isabel Jiménez-Zarco: Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), 08018 Barcelona, Spain
Francesc Saigí-Rubió: Interdisciplinary Research Group on ICTs, 08018 Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 23, 1-20

Abstract: (1) Background: The goal of the paper was to establish the factors that influence how people feel about having a medical operation performed on them by a robot. (2) Methods: Data were obtained from a 2017 Flash Eurobarometer (number 460) of the European Commission with 27,901 citizens aged 15 years and over in the 28 countries of the European Union. Logistic regression (odds ratios, OR) to model the predictors of trust in robot-assisted surgery was calculated through motivational factors, using experience and sociodemographic independent variables. (3) Results: The results obtained indicate that, as the experience of using robots increases, the predictive coefficients related to information, attitude, and perception of robots become more negative. Furthermore, sociodemographic variables played an important predictive role. The effect of experience on trust in robots for surgical interventions was greater among men, people between 40 and 54 years old, and those with higher educational levels. (4) Conclusions: The results show that trust in robots goes beyond rational decision-making, since the final decision about whether it should be a robot that performs a complex procedure like a surgical intervention depends almost exclusively on the patient’s wishes.

Keywords: robot-assisted surgery (RAS); artificial intelligence (AI); technology acceptance model (TAM); logit regression; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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