# An Organizational Perspective on Robotic Process Automation Adoption and Usage Factors
## 2 Methodology and Qualitative Data Analysis
### Confirmatory Study  
The quantitative study tests the research model through a questionnaire-based research approach. The questionnaire structure was built on the theoretical concepts of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), the results of the exploratory study, and scales tested and published adapted to fit the RPA context. For the antecedents of RPA use, items from the existing literature were adapted (see Appendix B). The nature of each construct (reflective or formative) must be taken into consideration [43]. When measures are used to analyze an underlying latent variable, and it is the latent variable that causes the measures, and these can be referred to as reflective indicators. When the indicators shape an underlying construct, they are causal or formative indicators [43]. Based on the aforementioned definitions and the set of decision rules proposed by [44], we classified the nature of each construct as presented in Appendix B. As the survey was conducted in Portuguese, we adhered to the recommendations of [45] to implement the \"back-translation\" method to ensure correct translation into Portuguese. A pre-test was also conducted with two researchers for initial conceptual validation of the scales, and no changes were made at this stage. Subsequently, a pilot test was conducted with 30 senior executives from the Information Systems, Operations, and Marketing areas. Items that did not demonstrate reliability in the scales were then excluded. We followed [46] suggestions to assess the measurement model in terms of its internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Outer loadings represent the correlation between an item and the latent variable. According to [47], it is recommended to remove items with outer loadings of below 0.5 to ensure that the latent variable is well represented by its indicators, thereby increasing the construct's validity and reliability. Retaining low-loading indicators could negatively impact convergent validity, reduce composite reliability, and lower the overall quality of the model. We eliminated three items with low outer loadings (less than 0.5), two from the latent variable Relative Advantage (RA1 and RA5) and one from the latent variable Environmental Pressure (EP5). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l} \hline \hline
**Hypotheses** & **References** \\ \hline H1: The relative advantage over competitors increases with the adoption/use & Results from the exploratory study. \\ of RPA. & \\ \hline H2: Compatibility with other technologies increases the propensity to & Adapted from [41] and results from the \\ adopt/use RPA. & exploratory study. \\ \hline H3: The low complexity of RPA increases the propensity to adopt/use RPA. & Results from the exploratory study. \\ \hline H4: The organization’s technological competence increases the propensity to & Adapted from [40,41]. \\ adopt/use RPA. & \\ \hline H5: Management obstacles in an organizational context reduce the propensity & Adapted from [41]. \\ for adopting/using RPA. & \\ \hline H6: The environmental pressure that arises from the environmental context & Adapted from [40]. \\ increases the propensity to adopt/use RPA. & Adapted from [42]. \\ \hline H7: In the service industry, there is a greater propensity for the adoption and & Adapted from [42]. \\ use of RPA. & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Hypotheses. Source: own elaboration. As these items pertained to reflective constructs, there was no effect on the study outcomes, and the questionnaire retained its conceptual consistency. The excluded items are labeled as removed in Table A2 (Appendix B). The measurement model, as well as the structural model, considered the following constructs:  
Relative Advantage, a reflexive construct combining the expectation to reduce costs (RA2), the expectation to reduce paperwork (RA3), and the expectation to help quick data capture and analysis (RA4), (Adapted from [14, 48, 49]).