Automation fears: Drivers and solutions

Abstract

New technologies offer employers the ability to replace tasks done by human labour with those done by machines. There are challenges for both employers and employees, as employers look for strategies for the implementation of automation technologies and employees may have concerns about their employment being threatened by automation technologies. In this research, we analyse data of over 500 Bulgarians to learn about how they perceive the automation of their job. The analysis finds that there are segments of the population defined by demographics and attitudes that are more fearful of the automation of their jobs than others. Additionally, we see that attitudes towards the dehumanizing effects of automation, peer-pressure, job automatability, and a person's self-perception of professionalism are the main drivers of the fear of automation. Finally, the paper evaluates respondents' attitudes towards various individual, corporate and social solution to automation fears.

Contribución de las TI en la mejora de la productividad de las PYME

“…Sin duda alguna la implantación de nuevas TI requieren contar con nuevas habilidades de los miembros de las entidades (Ivanov et al, 2020), por otra parte, Kozak et al (2020) mencionan que la incertidumbre de reemplazar la mano de obra por estas tecnologías obstaculiza la automatización de los procesos empresariales, afectando a la productividad.…”

Mining in Poland in Light of Energy Transition: Case Study of Changes Based on the Knowledge Economy

“…From this perspective, it is worth noting that the phenomena and processes related to automation cause transformations within companies and other institutions, related to areas of employment, human resource management and education [36]. As noted in numerous works [37][38][39][40][41], automation is a huge challenge for whole societies, because it forces changes in companies in terms of production processes, as well as operating principles, organizational models and information methods to build sensitive solutions based on innovation. This results in the need to adapt the entire labor market and education systems [36] in order to minimize the negative social impact of automation [42], improve skills [43] and professional flexibility [44] and build and support the competitiveness of emerging smart businesses of the future [45,46].…”

Implications of Industry 4.0 on industrial employment: A comparative survey from Brazilian, Chinese, and German practitioners

“…Spencer [38] questions whether work will actually be reduced by technological progress and argues that the threat workers associated with technological progress mainly comes from the erosion in the quality of work rather than from the loss of work. This notion is underlined by a study from Bulgaria, that identified the attitudes towards the dehumanizing effects of automation, peer-pressure, and the individual self-perception of workers as being the main drivers of the fear of automation [39]. Similar concerns are raised by Fleming [33] and Gallie [40]; who suggest that the broad application of digital technologies might eventually lead to intensified work and managerial control or even surveillance in highly automated companies.…”