When managers believe technological ability is fixed

Abstract

Drawing from mindset theory, we predict that managers' fixed mindset about technological ability (FM-TA) will negatively influence the developmental support they provide to their employees and, in turn, their employees' engagement in digitalization initiatives. Further, we predict that managers' FM-TA will have a disproportionate negative influence on female employees for whom negative stereotypes about technological ability exist. We test our hypotheses with two-wave field study data collected from 88 managers and 185 employees working in a Nordic banking institution. We find that managers' FM-TA relates negatively to their employees' experienced developmental support, and, in turn, their employees' efforts to approach new technology. Furthermore, our findings indicate that this negative, indirect relationship is more pronounced for female employees (Estimate = -.116 SE = .052, p = .026) than male employees (Estimate = -.048, SE = .027, p = .071), although the interaction term (managers' FM-TA x employee gender) was not significant at the 95 percent confidence level (Estimate = -.266 SE = .0141, p = .058). Our study provides greater insight into the human resource management (HRM) issues managers might have fostering employee engagement and inclusion in the digitalized workplace.

Digitalization and Resource Mobilization

“…Research in the area of HRM also includes questions on how learning/the acquisition of digital skills in organizations can be supported formally and informally through managers, who play a central role in encouraging and enabling the development of their employees (e.g. Solberg et al, 2022), and moving away from static models of knowledge and skills, requiring models that emphasize dynamic capabilities in organizations (e.g. Do et al, 2022).…”

“…Solberg et al. , 2022), and moving away from static models of knowledge and skills, requiring models that emphasize dynamic capabilities in organizations (e.g. Do et al.…”

Designing the Intelligent Organization: Six Principles for Human-AI Collaboration

“…Recent research demonstrates the critical role digital mindsets play in technology-enabled change, in particular, how developing growth/expandablesum mindsets enable collaborative exploratory learning and socializing technology into the fabric of the organization. 78 Finally, digital skills are the antidote to fear of technology. People who have the skills and habit of adapting technology to their own needs are significantly less likely to fear that AI will threaten their jobs.…”