Abstract
PurposeHow to improve healthcare for the ageing population is attracting academia attention. Emerging technologies (i.e. robots and intelligent agents) look relevant. This paper aims to analyze the role of cognitive assistants as boundary objects in value co-creation practices. We include the perceptions of the main actors – patients, (in)formal caregivers, healthcare professionals – for a fuller network perspective to understand the potential overlap between boundary work and value co-creation practices.Design/methodology/approachWe adopted a grounded approach to gain a contextual understanding design to effectively interpret context and meanings related to human–robot interactions. The study context concerns 21 health solutions that had embedded the Watson cognitive platform and its adoption by the youngest cohort (50–64-year-olds) of the ageing population.FindingsThe cognitive assistant acts as a boundary object by bridging actors, resources and activities. It enacts the boundary work of actors (both ageing and professional, caregivers, families) consisting of four main actions (automated dialoguing, augmented sharing, connected learning and multilayered trusting) that elicit two ageing value co-creation practices: empowering ageing actors in medical care and engaging ageing actors in a healthy lifestyle.Originality/valueWe frame the role of cognitive assistants as boundary objects enabling the boundary work of ageing actors for value co-creation. A cognitive assistant is an “object of activity” that mediates in actors' boundary work by offering novel resource interfaces and widening resource access and resourceness. The boundary work of ageing actors lies in a smarter resource integration that yields broader applications for augmented agency.
Highlights
We are entering the Silver Economy: “the sum of all economic activity serving the needs of those aged 50 and over including both the products and services they purchase directly and the further economic activity this spending generates” (European Commission, 2018a)
We identified eight categories and four themes linked to the activities and boundary work cognitive assistant enabled
The cognitive assistant acts as a boundary object by bridging actors, resources and activities. It enacts the boundary work of actors consisting of four main actions, which elicit two value co-creation practices: empowering actors in medical care and engaging actors in a healthy lifestyle
Summary
We are entering the Silver Economy: “the sum of all economic activity serving the needs of those aged 50 and over including both the products and services they purchase directly and the further economic activity this spending generates” (European Commission, 2018a) This is not a separate market segment but a cross-section cluster spanning the middle-aged (50–64 years), third age (65–74), fourth age (75–84) and the “oldest-old” (85þ) (Klimczuk, 2015). This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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