Paper Title
Influence of Moderating Factors on the Adoption of Socially Assistive Robots in Higher Education: Application of the Utaut Model
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of moderating factors such as gender, age, and major on students' intention
to adopt socially assistive robots (SAR) in higher education within the context of human-robot interaction. The research was
conducted online among students at Paisii Hilendarski University, employing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of
Technology (UTAUT) framework to structure the survey. A total of 199 students from various majors participated in the
study. A structural equation model (SEM) was constructed using SPSS and Smart PLS to validate the hypotheses. Our
findings confirm the partial influence of the moderators on the UTAUT constructs and subsequently on human-robot
interaction.
Keywords - human-robot interaction, socially assistive robots, adoption, moderators, higher education, UTAUT model