Trusting Robots in Teams: Examining the Impacts of Trusting Robots on Team Performance and Satisfaction

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of robots in teams, there is still much to learn about what facilitates better performance in these teams working with robots. Although trust has been shown to be a strong predictor of performance in all-human teams, we do not fully know if trust plays the same critical role in teams working with robots. This study examines how to facilitate trust and its importance on the performance of teams working with robots. A 2 (robot identification vs. no robot identification) × 2 (team identification vs. no team identification) between-subjects experiment with 54 teams working with robots was conducted. Results indicate that robot identification increased trust in robots and team identification increased trust in one’s teammates. Trust in robots increased team performance while trust in teammates increased satisfaction.