Towards a framework for digital work engagement of enabling technologies

Abstract

Increased use of robotization, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) highlights the need for theory development of the digital work environment since such technologies are likely to significantly alter or even totally change human work practices. This paper focuses on how these technologies influence people’s digital work engagement. In an ongoing project, we study how support from these technologies changes the socio-technical work dynamics and how work engagement can be facilitated in such digital workplaces. The project aims to develop a digital work engagement framework based on input across multiple work domains. The present paper reports on an initial characterization of digital work engagement and presents a synthesis of findings from the first iteration of the envisioned framework. Finally, a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of enabling technologies for the future of work practices is provided