The link between computer use and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job tasks and task discretion

Abstract

This study focuses on the consequences of the use of computerized work equipment (hereafter: computer use) on the content and quality of work. It investigates, first, the relationship between computer use and both job tasks and task discretion and, second, their mediating role for the relationship between computer use and job satisfaction. With our German‐UK comparison, we contribute to the long‐standing debate on the upskilling/de‐skilling nature of the use of technology and its repercussions on the quality of work. We analyse data from the Skills and Employment Surveys for the UK and the BIBB/BAuA Employment Surveys for Germany using structural equation modelling. In line with the literature on routine‐biased technological change, we show that computers are complementary to the performance of less routine and more abstract cognitive tasks and that this relationship is conducive to a higher level of task discretion and job satisfaction in both countries. Accounting for differences in job tasks performed, we find a negative direct effect of computer use on both task discretion and job satisfaction in the United Kingdom but not in Germany. Our results indicate that the ultimate effect of computer use on both task discretion and job satisfaction depends on the institutional contexts in which technology is introduced.

Returns to digital skills use, temporary employment, and trade unions in European labour markets

“…However, delving into the dynamics of trade union representation and discussing alternative scenarios in terms of the drivers of contractual segmentation are beyond the scope of this paper and have been more extensively explored elsewhere (e.g. Carver and Doellcast, 2021; Keune and Pedaci, 2020; Lindvall and Rueda, 2014; Meardi et al, 2021; Minardi, 2020; Pulignano et al, 2015; Pulignano and Signoretti, 2016; Thelen, 2014). Here, the focus could not be on directly testing for insider-outsider mechanisms in trade unions’ strategies and representation dynamics, as this would require more fine-tuned data, not only in terms of ICT usage and type of contract but also in terms of individual trade union membership, employer-employee data, and firm or sectorial-level data (Bechter and Brandl, 2015; Bechter et al, 2012; Kostøl and Svarstad, 2023).…”

“…Particularly within the sociological literature, cross-country divergences have been traced back to the heterogeneity of institutional factors. At odds with economic theories of skill-based or routine-based technological change, in which innovation is largely considered an exogenous factor with seemingly deterministic consequences for group-level inequalities, recent empirical evidence has pointed in the direction of possible contextspecific effects (Barbieri et al, 2021;Klenert et al, 2020;Kristal and Edler, 2021;Minardi et al, 2023;Oesch and Piccitto, 2019). This suggests that factors such as labour market regulations and wage-setting institutions act as moderators to market-driven mechanisms associated with technological change (Meyer and Biegert, 2019;Oesch and Menes, 2011;Parolin, 2021).…”