Correlational and Configurational Analysis of Factors Influencing Potential Patients’ Attitudes toward Surgical Robots: A Study in the Jordan University Community

Jorge de Andres-Sanchez (), Ala Ali Almahameed, Mario Arias-Oliva and Jorge Pelegrin-Borondo
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Jorge de Andres-Sanchez: Social and Business Research Laboratory, Business Management Department, University Rovira i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
Ala Ali Almahameed: Social and Business Research Laboratory, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
Mario Arias-Oliva: Marketing Department, Complutense University of Madrid and Social & Business Research Laboratory, Department of Business Management, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
Jorge Pelegrin-Borondo: Economics and Business Department, University of La Rioja, 26006 Logroño, Spain

Mathematics, 2022, vol. 10, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: The literature on surgical robots (SRs) usually adopts the perspective of healthcare workers. However, research on potential patients’ perceptions and the publics’ points of view on SRs is scarce. This fact motivates our study, which assesses the factors inducing the SRs acceptance in the opinion of potential patients. We consider three variables, based on the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT): the performance expectancy (PE), the effort expectancy (EE), and the social influence (SI); pleasure (PL), arousal (AR), and the perceived risk (PR). To deal with empirical data, we used the ordered logistic regression (OLR) and the fuzzy set comparative qualitative analysis (fsQCA). The OLR allowed us to check for a significant positive average influence of the UTAUT variables and PL, on the intention to undergo robotic surgery. However, the PR had a significant negative impact, and AR was not found to be significant. The FsQCA allowed the identification of the potential patient profiles, linked to acceptance of and resistance to SRs and confirmed that they are not symmetrical. The proposed input variables are presented as core conditions in at least one prime implicate robotic-assisted surgery acceptance. The exception to this statement is the PR, which is affirmed in some recipes and absent in others. The recipes explaining the resistance to SRs were obtained by combining the absence of PE, EE, SI, and PL (i.e., these variables have a negative impact on rejection) and the presence of the PR (i.e., the perceived risk has a positive impact on a resistance attitude toward SRs). Similarly, arousal played a secondary role in explaining the rejection.

Keywords: robot services; surgical robots; robot acceptance; unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT); smart technologies; regression methods; fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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