Tags:AMSWMC, Human-Robot Interaction and Sensemaking
Abstract:
The emerging phenomenon of robot-mediated parenthood is dramatically shifting family life from parent-child dyadic relationship into parent-robot-child triadic interactions. The effort to make sense of parental role identity is thus processed in a new relational context of human-robot interactions. This research leverages sense-making and sense giving perspectives of this novel context into identity theory to examine the mechanism of parental role identity reconstruction. Based on in-depth interviews with seven families who live with educational robots, the research outlines three between roles’ identities of parent-robot: gate opener-robotic alloparent, learner-robotic teacher, and enabler-future agent. The underlined mechanism of the reconstruction of parental role identity emerged during a linear evolving process which corresponds to attempts at revision, reinforcement, and revitalization. The analysis foregrounds how parents make sense of an intelligent actor and reconstruct their role identity. Marketers can capture the new implications to develop proper facilitators of family-based offerings in an age of human-robot interactions. In addition to explicit value of adopting intelligent technology at home, implicit value of adaptation to challenges between parent and children as well as from dynamically environmental conditions for children is more important for effort in enhancing value.
Reconstructing Parental Role Identity Through Sensemaking Human-Robot Interaction: Structured Abstract