Robotizing meaningful work
Abstract
Purpose
Robots have a history of replacing human labor in undesirable, dirty, dull and dangerous tasks. With robots now emerging in academic and human-centered work, this paper aims to investigate psychological implications of robotizing desirable and socially rewarding work.
Design/methodology/approach
Testing the holistic stress model, this study examines educational professionals’ stress responses as mediators between robotization expectations and future optimism in life. The study uses survey data on 2,434 education professionals.
Findings
Respondents entertaining robotization expectations perceived their work to be less meaningful and reported more burnout symptoms than those with no robotization expectations. Future optimism about life was not affected by robotization expectations alone, but meaninglessness and burnout symptoms mediated the relation between expectations of robotization and future optimism.
Practical implications
Robotization may be viewed as challenging the meaningfulness of educational work by compromising ethical values and interaction. To prevent excess stress among personnel, robotization should be planned together with employees in co-operation negotiations. This implicates the need for co-designing technological changes in organizations especially in the cases of social use of robots.
Originality/value
Work’s meaningfulness in robotization is a novel research topic and a step toward socially sustainable robotization.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2022
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Emerald
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202205202811Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1477-996X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1108/jices-06-2021-0063
Language
English
Published in
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
Citation
- Turja, T., Minkkinen, J., & Mauno, S. (2022). Robotizing meaningful work. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 20(2), 177-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/jices-06-2021-0063
Additional information about funding
This study was funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (project USUTE), the Academy of Finland, the Strategic Research Council (project ROSE, decision numbers: 292980 and 314180 and project IJDFIN, decision number 308334).
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