A User Acceptance Model for Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the rule-based automation of business processes by software bots mimicking human interactions to relieve employees from tedious work. However, any RPA initiative will not be successful if user acceptance is poor. So far, variables influencing RPA user acceptance have not been systematically investigated. The objective of this paper is to develop a model for assessing RPA user acceptance as well as variables influencing it. We derive this model using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and extend TAM by RPA-specific variables. Our empirical validation indicates that the most important variables, which significantly influence perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are facilitating conditions, result demonstrability, innovation joy, and social influence. These findings can be used to derive concrete recommendations for the design and implementation of RPA bots increasing acceptance of employees using the bots during their daily work. For the first time, an RPA user acceptance model is presented and validated contributing to an increased maturity of RPA projects.