Attitudes toward Cooperative Industrial Robots Questionnaire (ACIR-Q)

Abstract

The Attitudes toward Cooperative Industrial Robots Questionnaire (ACIR-Q), developed by Leichtmann et al. in 2023, is a specialized psychometric instrument designed to assess the attitudes of manufacturing workers regarding the implementation of mobile cooperative manufacturing robots (cobots). The scale, which consists of 12 items, integrates established measurement principles derived from earlier work by Chao and Kozlowski (1986) and Herold, Farmer, and Mobley (1985). Notably, the final item selection was rigorously optimized using the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm.

Validation efforts for the ACIR-Q included both online samples of German manufacturing workers and a field sample from local manufacturing companies. This context-specific questionnaire is designed to serve as a diagnostic tool, providing crucial data to inform managerial decisions and interventions related to the successful integration of advanced robotic technology into the modern workplace.

Keywords

Affect-Behavior, Ant Colony Optimization, Cooperative Industrial Robots, Employee Attitudes, Manufacturing, Social Concerns, Task Concerns, Workplace.

Authors

Leichtmann, Benedikt; Hartung, Johanna; Wilhelm, Oliver; Nitsch, Verena

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitudes toward Cooperative Industrial Robots Questionnaire (ACIR-Q) is to function as a diagnostic instrument for quantifying workers’ psychological responses and attitudes toward mobile cooperative manufacturing robots within specific workplace contexts. This assessment targets the unique concerns arising from human-robot collaboration (HRC).

By accurately measuring employee attitudes, the ACIR-Q provides a fundamental basis for managerial decisions and organizational interventions. This information is utilized to proactively address potential challenges, mitigate resistance, and foster a more positive and productive transition during the implementation of new robotic technology in industrial settings.

Construct

The ACIR-Q measures the multifaceted psychological construct of attitudes toward cooperative industrial robots. This construct is empirically defined by three distinct factors, which capture the holistic nature of a worker’s perception, ranging from emotional reactions to practical concerns regarding job roles and social dynamics.

The three core dimensions measured by the 12 items are: Affective/Behavioral Concerns (emotional response and willingness to adapt), Task-Related Concerns (perceptions regarding efficiency, safety, clarity of work processes, and quality of output), and Social-Related Concerns (beliefs about job security, worker value, and changes in interaction with colleagues).

Validity

The validity of the ACIR-Q was established through rigorous psychometric evaluations, confirming that the scale accurately measures the intended construct.

Construct Validity: The ACIR-Q demonstrates good construct validity, as supported by the results of factor analysis. This analysis confirmed the presence of three distinct factors (Affective/Behavioral, Task-Related, and Social-Related concerns), effectively capturing the underlying theoretical dimensions of attitudes toward robots and confirming that the questionnaire measures the intended latent variables.

Test Validity: Comprehensive test validity assessments ensured that the questionnaire is a suitable and appropriate tool for its specialized purpose of evaluating attitudes toward cooperative industrial robots among manufacturing workers.

Reliability

The overall reliability of the ACIR-Q was confirmed through psychometric assessment, ensuring the consistency and dependability of the measurement instrument.

Internal Consistency: The ACIR-Q exhibits strong internal consistency. Reliability values, measured using McDonald’s Omega (ω), ranged consistently from .81 to .84. These high coefficients indicate a strong degree of coherence among the 12 items, suggesting that they are consistently measuring the same underlying construct.

Test Reliability: The established test reliability confirms that the ACIR-Q is a dependable instrument, ensuring that results obtained from repeated administrations under comparable conditions would be stable and consistent.

Factor Analysis

The development of the ACIR-Q utilized advanced statistical and computational methods to derive its final, optimized factor structure.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): An initial EFA was conducted, leading to the identification of five factors that collectively accounted for 42% of the total variance. A refinement process involved removing a factor related to pressure due to its low explanatory contribution (only 3% of variance) and weak factor loadings, which improved the clarity of the scale structure.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): Following EFA, a CFA confirmed that attitudes toward robots are best described by three primary factors: affective/behavioral concerns, task-related concerns, and social-related concerns. These results provide a robust and interpretable framework for assessing worker perceptions.

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO): The final selection of the 12 items was optimized using the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm. This technique identified the best solution for the short scale, resulting in excellent model fit indices during validation, including a Comparative Fit Index (CFI) approximately equal to 1 and a Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) approximately equal to 0. These values confirm a strong fit between the proposed factor structure and the empirical data.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: Items are rated using a 5-point bi-polar scale.

Language Available: German, English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older)

Population Details: The target population consists of manufacturing workers located in Germany, validated using both online and field samples.

Test Methodology: The scale development and validation included Test Validity, Construct Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis (Exploratory and Confirmatory), and Item Selection via Ant Colony Optimization.

Keywords

Affect-Behavior, Ant Colony Optimization, Cooperative Industrial Robots, Employee Attitudes, Manufacturing, Social, Task, Workplace, Psychometrics, Scale Development.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Benedikt Leichtmann: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9062-0996; Johanna Hartung: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6392-4468; Oliver Wilhelm: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7980-1166

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Johannes Kepler University Linz); [email protected] (University of Bonn); [email protected] (Ulm University); [email protected] (RWTH Aachen University)

Correspondence Address: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Robopsychology Lab, Altenberger Str. 69, Linz, Austria, 4040, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: The Attitudes toward Cooperative Industrial Robots Questionnaire (ACIR-Q) may be used for research and teaching purposes. The specific licensing details are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC BY 4.0) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Supplementary materials, including the scale items, can be found at https://osf.io/5fnr9/.

Fee: No fee is required for the use of this instrument. It is commercially not available.

Test Year: 2023

References

Leichtmann, B., Hartung, J., Wilhelm, O., & Nitsch, V. (2023). New short scale to measure workers’ attitudes toward the implementation of cooperative robots in industrial work settings: Instrument development and exploration of attitude structure. International Journal of Social Robotics, 15(6), 909–930. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-023-00996-0

The original conceptual basis for the scale draws upon established work, including research by Chao and Kozlowski (1986) and Herold, Farmer, and Mobley (1985).

Items of the Attitudes toward Cooperative Industrial Robots Questionnaire (ACIR-Q)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way. The 12 items are rated on a 5-point bi-polar scale. The full item list is accessible in Appendix C, Pages 924-925 of the source reference.

Instructions for Responses: In the following, you will find statements about robots and their effects on your work. In each line, you will find two opposing statements at the respective ends. Please indicate for each line which of the two statements you rather agree with by putting a cross between the statements. The more you agree with a statement, the closer your cross should be to that statement. We are interested in your personal opinion. There are no right or wrong answers. So please answer honestly.

Item code	German original Items	English translation	Factor
Attitudes1-5	“Die Einführung neuer Roboter finde ich insgesamt schlecht.”—“Die Einführung neuer Roboter finde ich insgesamt gut”	“I generally find the implementation of new robots bad.”—“I generally find the implementation of new robots good”	Affect/ Behavior
Attitudes3-4	“Durch neue Roboter habe ich Angst meinen Arbeitsplatz zu verlieren.”—“Durch neue Roboter wird mein Arbeitsplatz auf lange Sicht gesichert”	“I’m afraid of losing my job because of new robots.”—“New robots will secure my job for the long term”	Social beliefs
Attitudes3-6	“Durch neue Roboter verliert meine Arbeit zunehmend an Sinn.”—“Durch neue Roboter erhält meine Arbeit neuen Sinn”	“New robots make my work increasingly meaningless.”—“New robots make my work more meaningful”	Social beliefs
Attitudes3-8	“Durch neue Roboter verliere ich als Arbeiter an Wert.”—“Durch neue Roboter gewinne ich als Arbeiter an Wert”	“With new robots I lose value as a worker.”—“With new robots I gain in value as a worker”	Social beliefs
Attitudes3-10	“Durch neue Roboter werde ich weniger mit meinen Kollegen in Kontakt sein.”—“Durch neue Roboter werde ich mehr mit meinen Kollegen in Kontakt sein”	“Because of new robots I will be less in contact with my colleagues.”—“Because of new robots I will be more in contact with my colleagues”	Social beliefs
Attitudes4-1	“Durch neue Roboter werden die Arbeitsabläufe undurchsichtiger.”—“Durch neue Roboter werden die Arbeitsabläufe übersichtlicher”	“New robots make work processes more opaque.”—“New robots make the work processes clearer”	Task beliefs
Attitudes5-3	“Neue Roboter werden meine Arbeitssituation verschlechtern.”—“Neue Roboter werden meine Arbeitssituation verbessern”	“New robots will make my work situation worse.”—“New robots will improve my work situation”	Affect/ Behavior
Attitudes5-8	“Neue Roboter werden zu schlechteren Arbeitsergebnissen bei uns führen.”—“Neue Roboter werden zu besseren Arbeitsergebnissen bei uns führen”	“New robots will lead to worse work results in our company.”—“New robots will lead to better work results in our company”	Task beliefs
Attitudes6-3	“Neue Roboter sind ein neues Risiko für Gefahren an meinem Arbeitsplatz.”—“Neue Roboter geben Potenzial für mehr Sicherheit an meinem Arbeitsplatz”	“New robots are a new hazard in my workplace.”—“New robots offer potential for more safety at my workplace”	Task beliefs
Attitudes6-5	“Neue Roboter werden in unserer Arbeit vieles durcheinanderbringen.”—“Neue Roboter werden zu mehr Ordnung in der Arbeit führen”	“New robots will mess up a lot at work.”—“New robots will lead to more organized work”	Task beliefs
Attitudes7-4	“Ich möchte mich in meiner Arbeit für einen neuen Roboter nicht umstellen müssen.”—“Ich werde mich für einen neuen Roboter in der Arbeit umstellen”	“I do not want to have to change my work for a new robot.”—“I would change for a new robot at work”	Affect/ Behavior
Attitudes7-9	“Bezüglich eines neuen Roboters habe ich ein mulmiges Gefühl.”—“Bezüglich eines neuen Roboters bin ich zuversichtlich”	“I have an uneasy feeling about a new robot.”—“I am confident about a new robot”	Affect/ Behavior

The 12 items are grouped into the following factors:

• Affect/Behavior = {attitudes1.5, attitudes5.3, attitudes7.4, attitudes7.9}

• Task = {attitudes4.1, attitudes5.8, attitudes6.3, attitudes6.5}

• Social = {attitudes3.4, attitudes3.6, attitudes3.8, attitudes3.10}