Technological Unemployment, Meaning in Life, Purpose of Business, and the Future of Stakeholders

Kim, Tae Wan; Scheller‐Wolf, Alan

doi:10.1007/s10551-019-04205-9

Cited by 41 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Manual workers conduct the given tasks using predetermined procedures (Drucker and Maciariello, 2008, p. 184). In today's industrial environment where machines have replaced most manual work, who performs a task makes only a negligible difference in productivity (Kim and Scheller-Wolf, 2019). A manual worker must fit himself or herself into the predetermined procedures to perform the given task.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge workers' existential affirmation and innovativeness: a Kierkegaardian redescription of Drucker

Shin

Lee

Chung

2021

EJIM

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PurposeAlthough existing studies demonstrate positive relationships between ethical cultures and innovativeness, their explanations of why an ethical culture leads to innovativeness are limited. This study explores the relationship between ethical organizational culture and knowledge workers' innovativenessDesign/methodology/approachBased on Kierkegaardian existential philosophy, this study proposes a research model that employs knowledge workers' existential affirmation as the link between ethical culture and innovativeness. The main hypothesis proposed in this study is that ethical organizational culture offers knowledge workers the opportunity to find their existential affirmation, which leads them to become more innovative. A structural equation modeling analysis is based on data collected from a survey of 348 knowledge workers from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in different hi-tech industries.FindingsThe findings suggest that among the four subdimensions of an ethical organizational culture, ethics training and awareness raising had the strongest relationships with knowledge workers' existential affirmation, which, in turn, had a significant relationship with their innovativeness.Originality/valueBased on this philosophical reflection, this study develops a research model that examines knowledge workers' existential affirmation as the factor that links ethical organizational culture and knowledge workers' innovativeness. The authors test ethical organizational culture as an environment that allows knowledge workers to validate their existential affirmation. Further, they test the link between knowledge workers' existential affirmation and their innovativeness.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge workers' existential affirmation and innovativeness: a Kierkegaardian redescription of Drucker

Shin

Lee

Chung

2021

EJIM

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“…asks "Does it eliminate more jobs than it creates or vice versa?" The answer is complex, but a growing body of evidence (Kim and Scheller-Wolf, 2019) suggests that overall, the balance tips toward the view that innovation often eliminates more jobs than it creates, at least at the present time and under current conditions (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

Helping the people innovation leaves behind: the potential benefits of entrepreneurship

Baron

2021

JEPP

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the human costs of innovation – the personal difficulties, aside from economic ones, experienced by persons whose jobs are permanently eliminated by innovations.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual analysis of the negative personal effects (i.e. intra-individual) resulting from job loss due to innovation was used. These include reduced self-esteem, hope for the future, increased stress and increased and disturbing cognitive inconsistencies.FindingsProposals are developed concerning the harmful effects experienced by whose jobs are made unnecessary by innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper, being conceptual, does not involve empirical research; rather it offers suggestions for future research.Practical implicationsAttention is called to the potential “downside” of innovation in terms of the persons whose jobs it renders superfluous. Reasons why entrepreneurship may be especially attractive to these persons are reviewed.Social implicationsInnovation generates many economic benefits but also makes many jobs unnecessary. As a resut, a growing number of persons lose jobs they can never hope to regain. These personal costs adversely affect both their psychological and physical well-being. Further, job loss due to innovation can add to income inequality and so be a source of conflict in society. Efforts to reduce these problems are essential for the continued well-being of both individuals and the societies in which they live.Originality/valuePast research concerning innovation has focused primarily on its economic effects. This paper extends this research by examining innovations' potentially harmful effects on persons it makes unemployed.

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“…Work is necessary for people to have an impact on their environment. Therefore, unemployment through automation poses a moral challenge as it leads to a potential loss of meaningfulness [42]. John Danaher and Sevn Nyholm discuss the problem that automation could lead to "achievement gaps" [43].…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Against robot taxes: scrutinizing the moral reasons for the preservation of work

Moser

2021

AI Ethics

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A recent political proposal to address the challenge of technological unemployment suggests that the state should impose a tax on labor-replacing technologies. The idea is to preserve jobs by disincentivizing automation. In this article, I critically assess the proposal from an ethical perspective. I show that, with respect to conceptions of distributive justice, it is unclear that precluding consumers’ potential real-income gains from automation can be justified. But foremost, I examine the moral ideal behind the normative claim to preserve labor. I show that the arguments in favor of a robot tax rely on doubtful moral convictions on the value of work and I conclude that a moral basis for imposing a robot tax is subject to justified scrutiny.

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Technological Unemployment, Meaning in Life, Purpose of Business, and the Future of Stakeholders

Cited by 41 publications

References 62 publications

Knowledge workers' existential affirmation and innovativeness: a Kierkegaardian redescription of Drucker

Knowledge workers' existential affirmation and innovativeness: a Kierkegaardian redescription of Drucker

Helping the people innovation leaves behind: the potential benefits of entrepreneurship

Against robot taxes: scrutinizing the moral reasons for the preservation of work

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