Courageous Cultures Embrace Automation: A Grounded Theory Investigation to Determine Individual Willingness to Adopt Automation in the Workplace

The objective of this research is to identify the primary factors that influence an individual’s willingness to adopt automation in the workplace. This is an important topic for anyone interested or responsible for implementing automation within an organization, regardless of scale or scope of the project. Using the grounded theory research method, the research team developed the Automation Adoption Theory by interviewing individuals in various industries and with various skill levels to understand the factors that influence their willingness to adopt and use automation in the workplace. We found that perceived necessity is a critical precursor for employees to willingly adopt automation. An organizational culture that encourages change and effective change management practices are essential factors for cooperative adoption of automation to occur.