The Technology Adoption Process and Barriers of Assistive Technology for People above Sixty Years and Propositions to Manage Barriers in Maintaining of Welfare

Abstrakt

1.5 million people are above sixty years of age in Denmark, this amount is increasing, and their welfare is under pressure. There is much assistive technology on the market e.g. the Sigfox ecosystem has over 700 different units. These devices are currently not commonly used, even though they have great potential towards assisting people and maintaining the welfare for people above sixty years. Therefore, this study has been addressing the issue on what hinders or enables full adoption of assistive technology for people above sixty years through interviews and surveys of relevant parties. It was important in this study to include the relevant users because they often are excluded in the body of knowledge. This thesis did not use the case study method, like the majority in the body of knowledge but rather the interpretive paradigm was used as a tool to understand people above sixty and their world views. Conclusively, this turned out positively as the understanding and involvement of users provided interesting findings. I.e.Target group being extremely needs driven and will vary from their psychographic group, if they hear about a specific product positioned in another psychographic group and covers a need they have. The ethical barriers provided an interesting finding on the level of fear versus level of knowledge. Fear increases as the level of knowledge on data storage, gathering, owners and usage decreases and the overall level of knowledge decreases the further into the technology life cycle. With fear comes the concerns that primarily are the potential violation of factors like privacy and dignity. To overcome this obstacle the transparency should be increased by awareness, addressing of ethical concerns and knowledge sharing so that the common knowledge will increase as well. This thesis proposes that by enabling organizations to establish their own separate nudging strategy with the purpose of altering the behaviour in a predictable way and thereby, work around the barriers as a unit. Consequently, the users gain more of a common knowledge and start making requirements to organizations regarding transparency. The second barrier being the municipalities. They found that efficiency is needed in an organization on a wide level which slows down implementations and communication which thereby create barriers e.g. employees afraid of losing their job to assistive technology. The significant with this thesis is the interpretative of the target group as users. Which contribute with findings the organizations can use to manage their assistive technologies through the full adoption life cycle and the associated barriers. This enables the organizations to overcome the hindering factors e.g. falling into the cracks or the chasm. The goal is for the organizations to increase sales and the goal for the users is to have an increased welfare. Furthermore, making them able to live in their private homes longer, rather than going to a nursing home by using passive technologies earlier in the trajectory. Because of this the government gain an economic benefit by an increased tendency to living at home longer and the 97 % of the participants will get their wish of never have to live in a nursing home.