New Research Note in Business & Information Systems Engineering on trust in software robots

In a recent research note in the journal Business & Information Systems Engineering (BISE), we examine the role of trust in software robots in the context of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The article is a community project resulting from the Dagstuhl Seminar 24292 "Improving Trust between Humans and Software Robots in Robotic Process Automation".

RPA systems are becoming increasingly powerful and are taking on more and more autonomous tasks in companies. In many organizations, hybrid workforces consisting of human employees and software robots are therefore working together. However, a conceptual framework to systematically understand trust in software robots and its impact on human-technology collaboration is still lacking.

The paper develops a conceptual framework for human-robot trust in RPA systems and identifies five key research challenges that need to be addressed to enable a new generation of trustworthy software robots and effective collaboration in hybrid work environments. The chair's contribution deals in particular with "Trust-Centered Human-Software Robot Interactions".

The paper is available Open Access at  SpringerNatureLink. BISE has an impact factor of 12.2 (2025) and is one of the top-tier journals in the field of information systems.