Can You Outsmart the Robot? An Unexpected Path to Work Meaningfulness

Abstract

Although many organizations are increasingly replacing human labor with relying on robots, scholarly knowledge of how employees respond to robots is limited. In a qualitative study consisting of 117 interviews conducted over 20 months at two manufacturing companies, we explored how people respond to labor replacement by robots and how they handle working with unreliable technology to get the job done. We discovered a paradoxical scenario in which an apparently adverse situation—imperfect robots—had beneficial outcomes for the employees by enhancing their sense of the meaningfulness of their work. Our inductive analysis revealed a unique mechanism—outsmarting robots—as a key process responsible for the development of these positive effects. This research highlights important areas for further theorizing about the role of the worthiness of human work in automation efforts as well as the reliability and acceptance of robots in organizations.