Unravelling the Link between Automatability and Job Satisfaction

We take a closer look at the negative association between automatability and job satisfaction using data from the European Working Conditions Survey. We find a significant negative effect of automatability on job satisfaction. We observe that the association is not driven by individual or contextual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of labor research 2023-12, Vol.44 (3-4), p.199-227
Main Authors: Jacobs, Arthur, Verhofstadt, Elsy, Van Ootegem, Luc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Education
Educational attainment
Employment
Inequality
Job satisfaction
Labor market
Market segments
Occupations
Quality of work
Robotics
Social Sciences
Working conditions
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Summary:We take a closer look at the negative association between automatability and job satisfaction using data from the European Working Conditions Survey. We find a significant negative effect of automatability on job satisfaction. We observe that the association is not driven by individual or contextual confounders, but rather that it is generated by the specific task content of highly automatable occupations. More precisely, we identify ‘originality requirements’ as the key mediator, as more originality hinders the automatability of an occupation while boosting the job satisfaction of employees. We also find evidence for a stronger bias of future automation towards less satisfying occupations within lower-educated labour market segments. We discuss what these findings imply for the future quality of work and for inequality by education.
ISSN:0195-3613
1936-4768
DOI:10.1007/s12122-023-09346-5