The Promotion of Technology Acceptance and Work Engagement in Industry 4.0: From Personal Resources to Information and Training

Abstract

Thanks to the rapid advances of technology, we are currently experiencing the fourth industrial revolution, which is introducing several changes in how organizations operate and how people learn and do their work. Many questions arise within this framework about how these transformations may affect workers’ wellbeing, and the Work and Organizational Psychology is called upon to address these open issues. This study aims to investigate personal and organizational antecedents (resilience, goal orientation and opportunities for information and training) and one consequence (work engagement) of technology acceptance within factories, comparing white- and blue-collar workers. The study involved a sample of 598 workers (white-collar = 220, blue-collar = 378) employed at an Italian company who filled in a self-report questionnaire. In both samples, the multi-group structural equation model showed a positive relationship between resilience, opportunities for information and training, and technology acceptance, which in turn showed a positive association with work engagement. All indirect effects were significant. This study investigated the motivational dynamics related to the introduction of new technologies within factories involving the little-studied population of blue-collar workers. Results highlighted the importance of providing information and opportunities for training to all employees, in order to support Industry 4.0 transformations without impacting on workers’ motivation.

The Motivations for and Well-Being Implications of Social Media Use at Work among Millennials and Members of Former Generations

“…Indeed, former technological skills have been found to have an important role in accepting and utilizing new technologies [ 2 , 110 ]. Moreover, study by Molino and colleagues (2020) incited that personal resilience, possibilities for training and information enhanced the possibilities to accept new technologies into use and eventually fostered work engagement [ 8 ].…”

“…However, personality plays even greater role than age [ 7 ]. Technology acceptance has also been associated with work engagement, which highlights its importance for employee well-being [ 8 ].…”

“…As social media applications are nearly ubiquitous, they can erode boundaries between people’s private and professional lives because employees can access their work anywhere and at any time. Thus, work can easily spill over to free time [ 41 ] and challenge individuals to manage their work time and workload [ 8 ] and can have negative influence on employee productivity and organizational effectiveness in general [ 42 ]. Social media can increase communication, information, and social overload [ 32 ].…”

Stagewise Overview of Issues Influencing Organizational Technology Adoption and Use

“…Technology adoption and implementation processes in Industry 4.0 are more complex than traditional technology implementations because they involve a wider range of connected technologies, calling for work process readjustments, industrial scale changes, and changes in the society on a global level (Lewis and Naden, 2018 ). The pace of technological evolution is exponential, and the nature of technologies is more disruptive (Molino et al, 2020 ) than previous technological eras. This implies that a number of subprojects need to be coordinated and managed strategically (Rojko, 2017 ).…”

Presenteeism, Overcommitment, Workplace Bullying, and Job Satisfaction: A Moderated Mediation Relationship

“…A possible way out in many cases could be digitalization, which is an open front of the 21st-century economy, but it is necessary to understand that workers’ behaviours will adapt to this paradigm according to the behaviour of their organizations: providing an adequate cultural vision or information and opportunities to follow technological advances [ 92 ] is crucial. This dynamic seems to be precipitated even more in this global pandemic situation.…”