{"id":{"repo_id":"cambridge","oai_identifier":"oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/401547"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cambridge/oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/401547","repository":{"repo_id":"cambridge","name":"Cambridge University","base_url":"https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Introducing operator assistance systems in manufacturing in a worker-centric way.","abstract":"Over the past decade, Industry 4.0 has diffused across the manufacturing sector and economic and societal pressures have intensified. Especially for manufacturing firms, this shows the rising global demand for more personalised, complex products, driven in part by expanding consumption in emerging economies, the push for efficiency, and an ageing workforce alongside skills shortages. As a result, many manufacturers have introduced operator-assistance systems (OAS) on their shop floors. Examples of these systems include augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), collaborative robotics (cobots), wearables (e.g. scanners and exoskeletons), and tablet-based AI applications (e.g. to display digital work instructions, error-proofing, and predictive maintenance). While Industry 4.0 largely foregrounded technical optimisation, it tended to sideline aspects around resilience, sustainability, and social responsibility. Industry 5.0 explicitly recentres these concerns, positioning industry as a means to deliver societal value beyond jobs and growth: to build resilient, long-term prosperity by producing within planetary boundaries and by positioning workers at the centre of manufacturing. Within this shift, a key design decision is how far to fully automate versus when to augment. OAS supports (rather than replaces) operators, an approach seen as both more socially accepted and, over time, more efficient. Building on this Industry 5.0 reframing, while a large body of literature exists on the technical aspects of OAS, organisational and specifically human- and worker-related factors in relation to their introduction have been discussed far less. Empirical studies of adoption and early usage are emerging, but longitudinal evidence and comprehensive frameworks that show how to involve workers across the full change process (from problem identification, design through piloting, scaling to usage of OAS over time) remain rare. Existing studies primarily adopt a management perspective, with few directly engaging operators or operational team leaders, and even fewer triangulating perspectives across upper management, middle management, and shop floor workers. This gap matters because workers are often the end users of these technologies, and their attitudes and actions can enable or derail implementations, which can affect key performance indicators (KPIs) such as return on investment (ROI), worker satisfaction and retention. Finally, practitioner requirements receive relatively little attention in existing research. Therefore, this research provides theoretical and practical implications by addressing the question: how could manufacturing companies involve their workforce in introducing OAS in a human-centric way? To address these gaps, I use a qualitative, multi-method, theory-building design. First, a systematic literature review across multiple databases synthesised more than 950 sources (mainly peer-reviewed journals and conference papers) to delineate constructs and existing introduction frameworks. Second, four empirical studies, ranging from exploratory to evaluative, were conducted, consisting of primary data based on 165 semi-structured interviews across 28 manufacturing firms in multiple countries, as well as 11 shop floor observations, and four workshops (each with approximately 30 participants) for feedback and evaluation. Moreover, I conducted a second literature review to compare the results of the experienced workforce study with the existing state of research knowledge (leading to an extra 225 studies in the final sample). In addition, secondary data, from 48 semi-structured interviews and three industry reports, were analysed to supplement and triangulate my findings. In response to the gaps outlined above, this thesis makes four theoretical and four practical contributions. From a theoretical perspective, (1) the thesis clarifies the scope and constructs for OAS introductions through a structured review that organises the field along four complementary lenses: macro-development, technology, process, and worker. As a result, I contribute to sharpening boundaries and cumulative understanding. (2) advances a human-centric, augmentation-rather-than-substitution view of OAS consistent with the Industry 5.0 paradigm by empirically operationalising the human-centricity, resilience and sustainability pillars in multi-stakeholder, multi-country OAS introductions. (3) proposes an empirically grounded, phase-spanning framework across the before, during, after, and throughout phases that specifies suggested activities that companies should undertake and is designed to generalise across settings based on multi-company, multi-country evidence. (4) Finally, it offers opportunities for extending acceptance models (e.g. TOE, UTAUT2) by introducing perceived involvement in the integration as a relevant factor. The third theoretical contribution forms the core contribution of the thesis. From a practical perspective, my research provides (1) actionable guidance based on the collected perceptions for worker-centric OAS introductions, covering the phases before, during, after, and throughout the OAS introduction. (2) offers age-responsive design considerations for apprentices and experienced workers to improve adoption by collecting insights from both groups. (3) summarises implementation challenges that were mentioned by managers and workers when they imagined implementing my framework in practice. Building on this point, I also suggest (4) a distinction of the framework factors into must-have, nice-to-have, and irrelevant, based on interviewee input, to ensure that the framework can be adopted as widely as possible.","abstract_html":"Over the past decade, Industry 4.0 has diffused across the manufacturing sector and economic and societal pressures have intensified. Especially for manufacturing firms, this shows the rising global demand for more personalised, complex products, driven in part by expanding consumption in emerging economies, the push for efficiency, and an ageing workforce alongside skills shortages. As a result, many manufacturers have introduced operator-assistance systems (OAS) on their shop floors. Examples of these systems include augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), collaborative robotics (cobots), wearables (e.g. scanners and exoskeletons), and tablet-based AI applications (e.g. to display digital work instructions, error-proofing, and predictive maintenance). While Industry 4.0 largely foregrounded technical optimisation, it tended to sideline aspects around resilience, sustainability, and social responsibility. Industry 5.0 explicitly recentres these concerns, positioning industry as a means to deliver societal value beyond jobs and growth: to build resilient, long-term prosperity by producing within planetary boundaries and by positioning workers at the centre of manufacturing. Within this shift, a key design decision is how far to fully automate versus when to augment. OAS supports (rather than replaces) operators, an approach seen as both more socially accepted and, over time, more efficient. Building on this Industry 5.0 reframing, while a large body of literature exists on the technical aspects of OAS, organisational and specifically human- and worker-related factors in relation to their introduction have been discussed far less. Empirical studies of adoption and early usage are emerging, but longitudinal evidence and comprehensive frameworks that show how to involve workers across the full change process (from problem identification, design through piloting, scaling to usage of OAS over time) remain rare. Existing studies primarily adopt a management perspective, with few directly engaging operators or operational team leaders, and even fewer triangulating perspectives across upper management, middle management, and shop floor workers. This gap matters because workers are often the end users of these technologies, and their attitudes and actions can enable or derail implementations, which can affect key performance indicators (KPIs) such as return on investment (ROI), worker satisfaction and retention. Finally, practitioner requirements receive relatively little attention in existing research. Therefore, this research provides theoretical and practical implications by addressing the question: how could manufacturing companies involve their workforce in introducing OAS in a human-centric way? To address these gaps, I use a qualitative, multi-method, theory-building design. First, a systematic literature review across multiple databases synthesised more than 950 sources (mainly peer-reviewed journals and conference papers) to delineate constructs and existing introduction frameworks. Second, four empirical studies, ranging from exploratory to evaluative, were conducted, consisting of primary data based on 165 semi-structured interviews across 28 manufacturing firms in multiple countries, as well as 11 shop floor observations, and four workshops (each with approximately 30 participants) for feedback and evaluation. Moreover, I conducted a second literature review to compare the results of the experienced workforce study with the existing state of research knowledge (leading to an extra 225 studies in the final sample). In addition, secondary data, from 48 semi-structured interviews and three industry reports, were analysed to supplement and triangulate my findings. In response to the gaps outlined above, this thesis makes four theoretical and four practical contributions. From a theoretical perspective, (1) the thesis clarifies the scope and constructs for OAS introductions through a structured review that organises the field along four complementary lenses: macro-development, technology, process, and worker. As a result, I contribute to sharpening boundaries and cumulative understanding. (2) advances a human-centric, augmentation-rather-than-substitution view of OAS consistent with the Industry 5.0 paradigm by empirically operationalising the human-centricity, resilience and sustainability pillars in multi-stakeholder, multi-country OAS introductions. (3) proposes an empirically grounded, phase-spanning framework across the before, during, after, and throughout phases that specifies suggested activities that companies should undertake and is designed to generalise across settings based on multi-company, multi-country evidence. (4) Finally, it offers opportunities for extending acceptance models (e.g. TOE, UTAUT2) by introducing perceived involvement in the integration as a relevant factor. The third theoretical contribution forms the core contribution of the thesis. From a practical perspective, my research provides (1) actionable guidance based on the collected perceptions for worker-centric OAS introductions, covering the phases before, during, after, and throughout the OAS introduction. (2) offers age-responsive design considerations for apprentices and experienced workers to improve adoption by collecting insights from both groups. (3) summarises implementation challenges that were mentioned by managers and workers when they imagined implementing my framework in practice. Building on this point, I also suggest (4) a distinction of the framework factors into must-have, nice-to-have, and irrelevant, based on interviewee input, to ensure that the framework can be adopted as widely as possible.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bolten, Jessica"],"institution":"University of Cambridge","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Bohné, Thomas"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-11-25","date_published":"2025-11-25","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:33:05Z","subjects":["technology introductions","manufacturing","operator assistance systems (OAS)","Industry 5.0","employee voice"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/e6d40721-b979-43da-b8ea-4d5de9b36709/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.129311","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Bohné, Thomas"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bolten, Jessica"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-11-25"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cambridge"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/401547"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["technology introductions","manufacturing","operator assistance systems (OAS)","Industry 5.0","employee voice"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/e6d40721-b979-43da-b8ea-4d5de9b36709/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargotype","label":"Dc Rights Embargotype","values":["controlled.access"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.129311"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/50992cd6-63b9-46ca-898b-7880421e3443/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Over the past decade, Industry 4.0 has diffused across the manufacturing sector and economic and societal pressures have intensified. Especially for manufacturing firms, this shows the rising global demand for more personalised, complex products, driven in part by expanding consumption in emerging economies, the push for efficiency, and an ageing workforce alongside skills shortages. As a result, many manufacturers have introduced operator-assistance systems (OAS) on their shop floors. Examples of these systems include augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), collaborative robotics (cobots), wearables (e.g. scanners and exoskeletons), and tablet-based AI applications (e.g. to display digital work instructions, error-proofing, and predictive maintenance). While Industry 4.0 largely foregrounded technical optimisation, it tended to sideline aspects around resilience, sustainability, and social responsibility. Industry 5.0 explicitly recentres these concerns, positioning industry as a means to deliver societal value beyond jobs and growth: to build resilient, long-term prosperity by producing within planetary boundaries and by positioning workers at the centre of manufacturing. Within this shift, a key design decision is how far to fully automate versus when to augment. OAS supports (rather than replaces) operators, an approach seen as both more socially accepted and, over time, more efficient. Building on this Industry 5.0 reframing, while a large body of literature exists on the technical aspects of OAS, organisational and specifically human- and worker-related factors in relation to their introduction have been discussed far less. Empirical studies of adoption and early usage are emerging, but longitudinal evidence and comprehensive frameworks that show how to involve workers across the full change process (from problem identification, design through piloting, scaling to usage of OAS over time) remain rare. Existing studies primarily adopt a management perspective, with few directly engaging operators or operational team leaders, and even fewer triangulating perspectives across upper management, middle management, and shop floor workers. This gap matters because workers are often the end users of these technologies, and their attitudes and actions can enable or derail implementations, which can affect key performance indicators (KPIs) such as return on investment (ROI), worker satisfaction and retention. Finally, practitioner requirements receive relatively little attention in existing research. Therefore, this research provides theoretical and practical implications by addressing the question: how could manufacturing companies involve their workforce in introducing OAS in a human-centric way? To address these gaps, I use a qualitative, multi-method, theory-building design. First, a systematic literature review across multiple databases synthesised more than 950 sources (mainly peer-reviewed journals and conference papers) to delineate constructs and existing introduction frameworks. Second, four empirical studies, ranging from exploratory to evaluative, were conducted, consisting of primary data based on 165 semi-structured interviews across 28 manufacturing firms in multiple countries, as well as 11 shop floor observations, and four workshops (each with approximately 30 participants) for feedback and evaluation. Moreover, I conducted a second literature review to compare the results of the experienced workforce study with the existing state of research knowledge (leading to an extra 225 studies in the final sample). In addition, secondary data, from 48 semi-structured interviews and three industry reports, were analysed to supplement and triangulate my findings. In response to the gaps outlined above, this thesis makes four theoretical and four practical contributions. From a theoretical perspective, (1) the thesis clarifies the scope and constructs for OAS introductions through a structured review that organises the field along four complementary lenses: macro-development, technology, process, and worker. As a result, I contribute to sharpening boundaries and cumulative understanding. (2) advances a human-centric, augmentation-rather-than-substitution view of OAS consistent with the Industry 5.0 paradigm by empirically operationalising the human-centricity, resilience and sustainability pillars in multi-stakeholder, multi-country OAS introductions. (3) proposes an empirically grounded, phase-spanning framework across the before, during, after, and throughout phases that specifies suggested activities that companies should undertake and is designed to generalise across settings based on multi-company, multi-country evidence. (4) Finally, it offers opportunities for extending acceptance models (e.g. TOE, UTAUT2) by introducing perceived involvement in the integration as a relevant factor. The third theoretical contribution forms the core contribution of the thesis. 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Industry 5.0 explicitly recentres these concerns, positioning industry as a means to deliver societal value beyond jobs and growth: to build resilient, long-term prosperity by producing within planetary boundaries and by positioning workers at the centre of manufacturing. Within this shift, a key design decision is how far to fully automate versus when to augment. OAS supports (rather than replaces) operators, an approach seen as both more socially accepted and, over time, more efficient. Building on this Industry 5.0 reframing, while a large body of literature exists on the technical aspects of OAS, organisational and specifically human- and worker-related factors in relation to their introduction have been discussed far less. Empirical studies of adoption and early usage are emerging, but longitudinal evidence and comprehensive frameworks that show how to involve workers across the full change process (from problem identification, design through piloting, scaling to usage of OAS over time) remain rare. Existing studies primarily adopt a management perspective, with few directly engaging operators or operational team leaders, and even fewer triangulating perspectives across upper management, middle management, and shop floor workers. This gap matters because workers are often the end users of these technologies, and their attitudes and actions can enable or derail implementations, which can affect key performance indicators (KPIs) such as return on investment (ROI), worker satisfaction and retention. Finally, practitioner requirements receive relatively little attention in existing research. Therefore, this research provides theoretical and practical implications by addressing the question: how could manufacturing companies involve their workforce in introducing OAS in a human-centric way? To address these gaps, I use a qualitative, multi-method, theory-building design. First, a systematic literature review across multiple databases synthesised more than 950 sources (mainly peer-reviewed journals and conference papers) to delineate constructs and existing introduction frameworks. Second, four empirical studies, ranging from exploratory to evaluative, were conducted, consisting of primary data based on 165 semi-structured interviews across 28 manufacturing firms in multiple countries, as well as 11 shop floor observations, and four workshops (each with approximately 30 participants) for feedback and evaluation. Moreover, I conducted a second literature review to compare the results of the experienced workforce study with the existing state of research knowledge (leading to an extra 225 studies in the final sample). In addition, secondary data, from 48 semi-structured interviews and three industry reports, were analysed to supplement and triangulate my findings. In response to the gaps outlined above, this thesis makes four theoretical and four practical contributions. From a theoretical perspective, (1) the thesis clarifies the scope and constructs for OAS introductions through a structured review that organises the field along four complementary lenses: macro-development, technology, process, and worker. As a result, I contribute to sharpening boundaries and cumulative understanding. (2) advances a human-centric, augmentation-rather-than-substitution view of OAS consistent with the Industry 5.0 paradigm by empirically operationalising the human-centricity, resilience and sustainability pillars in multi-stakeholder, multi-country OAS introductions. (3) proposes an empirically grounded, phase-spanning framework across the before, during, after, and throughout phases that specifies suggested activities that companies should undertake and is designed to generalise across settings based on multi-company, multi-country evidence. (4) Finally, it offers opportunities for extending acceptance models (e.g. TOE, UTAUT2) by introducing perceived involvement in the integration as a relevant factor. The third theoretical contribution forms the core contribution of the thesis. 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