Automation hesitancy: confidence deficits, established limits and notional horizons in the application of algorithms within the private rental sector in the UK

Abstract

Drawing upon a qualitative research project examining the use of algorithms in decisions relating to access to housing, this article develops the concept of automation hesitancy. It reflects on the emergence of automation and considers the need for detailed accounts of the implementation of algorithms within specific sectors. In particular, it looks at the confidence deficits that exist. From this starting point it then considers how established limits and notional horizons shape and define the use of algorithms in decision-making processes. The concept of automation hesitancy is used to explore the reaction of those who make decisions concerning access to housing to the presence of algorithmic processing. This central concept of automation hesitancy highlights the hesitations that occur over the implementation of algorithms. The article looks at why this hesitancy exists, what its limits are and also at the role of future horizons in continually reshaping those limits. Overall, the article uses detailed analysis of the UK private rental sector (PRS) to challenge notions of the slickness and frictionless integration of algorithmic decision-making, offering instead a series of insights into the types of liminality and reservations that create variegated algorithmic social landscapes.