Appropriate automation: towards an understanding of robots and AI in the social services from an organizational and user perspective

Due to the demographic development, social services are implementing welfare technology as one strategy to meet the increased demand for welfare services. Automation in terms of robots and AI are introduced to handle work tasks previously performed by employees.

This development has raised a number of questions among practitioners and academics, and little is known of how to implement new technology in the best way, or what the consequences are for employees and users.

The aim of the current program is therefor to study the implementation of automation in Swedish social services from an organizational and user perspective.

Building on theories of implementation, work design, leadership and ethics, we will examine how automation can be successfully implemented in the social services, how it affect employees, the role of leadership, and consequences for users. We will also examine if the implementation of automation can be improved by means of an intervention.

We will collect multi-method and multi-source data by combining interviews and surveys with managers, employees and users, with document analyses and an intervention in three participating municipalities representing different parts of the social services.

By combining research from four different disciplines; social work, implementation science, work psychology and computer science, the program will make a substantial contribution to research on welfare technology.

By working closely together with participating municipalities and our advisory board the program will provide new and useful knowledge on what municipalities need to consider when implementing welfare technologies in the social services.

The knowledge generated in the program may also help policy makers to develop much needed guidelines and policies on how to implement automation in the social services.