“I'm stressed!”: The work effect of process innovation on mental health

Du, Yong; Shahiri, Hazrul Izuan; Wei, Xiahai

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101347

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…The results indicate that people with higher robot exposure are generally more likely to develop negative emotions, which corroborates our story concerning "problem drinking." A recent study has also shown that automation hinders workers' mental health by exposing them to higher unemployment risk and worry about job stability (Du et al, 2023). Our findings are nicely consistent with their work.…”

Section: Mechanism Analysissupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Columns (1)–(2) show that robot exposure could reduce positive emotions like pleasure and happiness significantly, and columns (3)–(6) show that negative emotions including fatigue, depression, loneliness, and unbearable feelings were hugely exacerbated. The results indicate that people with higher robot exposure are generally more likely to develop negative emotions, which corroborates our story concerning “problem drinking.” A recent study has also shown that automation hinders workers' mental health by exposing them to higher unemployment risk and worry about job stability (Du et al., 2023). Our findings are nicely consistent with their work.…”

Section: Mechanism Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, its effect on mental health proves the reverse. Research has found that automation may impose heavy psychological stress on workers (Du et al., 2023), leading to poor mental health and deaths from substance use (Gihleb et al., 2022; Venkataramani et al., 2020). By showing how robots exacerbated problem drinking in China, we complement extant research and offer clear channels for automation to influence individual health conditions, addressing the health inequality issue in China.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drinking in despair: Unintended consequences of automation in China

Lu,

Fan

2024

Health Economics

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The side effects of technological progress on the economy have been discussed frequently, but little is known regarding its health consequences. By combining the national individual‐level panel data of alcohol drinking with the prefecture‐level robot exposure rate in China, we find that one more robot exposure rate could induce up to 2.2% points increase in the probability of problem drinking. Such a pattern of problem drinking is explained by negative emotions, which can be ascribed to job loss due to substitution, higher income vulnerability, and reduced organization participation. Further, we provide evidence that automation can incur health costs, particularly for easily substituted workers, which would exacerbate health inequality in China. This paper sheds light on the impact of automation and the social incentives of problem drinking, emphasizing the possibly heterogeneous health cost accompanied by the automation process.

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Section: Mechanism Analysissupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Mechanism Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drinking in despair: Unintended consequences of automation in China

Lu,

Fan

2024

Health Economics

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Self-perception of Stress During COVID-19 Pandemic in Romanian Research, Development and Innovation Institutes: An Observational Study

Rotaru,

Cordos,

Dumitrescu

2024

IFMBE Proceedings

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The penetration of robotic technology, task content routinisation and job satisfaction: Evidence from China

Du,

Shahiri,

Wei

2024

Australian Journal of Management

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Faced with a surge in labour costs, companies are strongly incentivised by local governments’ aggressive promotion to embrace robotic technology, triggering intense media debates. This, in turn, inevitably shapes workers’ attitudes towards their current jobs and brings uncertainty about their future workplace. This study investigates the connection between robotisation, routinisation and job satisfaction in China’s labour market. The results show that there is an observed positive relationship between an individual’s job satisfaction and exposure to robots in the local labour market, which may be related to the overwhelming benefits of these new technologies about certain work dimensions. However, fear of automation is not groundless. Our findings show that job satisfaction decreased with an increase in the routinisation of task content, particularly in areas that are increasingly exposed to robot adoption. This supports the routine-biased technological change hypothesis, which connects technology-induced unemployment with job routinisation. JEL Classification: J28, O33

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“I'm stressed!”: The work effect of process innovation on mental health

Cited by 4 publications

References 50 publications

Drinking in despair: Unintended consequences of automation in China

Drinking in despair: Unintended consequences of automation in China

Self-perception of Stress During COVID-19 Pandemic in Romanian Research, Development and Innovation Institutes: An Observational Study

The penetration of robotic technology, task content routinisation and job satisfaction: Evidence from China

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