Robots, meaning, and self-determination

This paper is the first to examine the impact of robotization on work meaningfulness, autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which are essential to motivation and well-being at work. Using surveys of workers and robotization data for 14 industries in 20 European countries spanning 2005–2021, we find a consistent negative impact of robotization on perceived work meaningfulness and autonomy. Using instrumental variables, we find that doubling robotization leads to a 0.9 % decrease in work meaningfulness and a 1 % decline in autonomy. To put this in perspective, if the robotization levels of the top 5 industry were to match those of the leading industry in terms of robot adoption in 2020 (equivalent to a 7.5-fold increase), it would result in a decline of 6.8 % in work meaningfulness and 7.5 % in autonomy. The link between robotization, competence, and relatedness is also negative but less robust. We also examine how tasks, skills, and socio-demographic characteristics moderate the main relationships. We find that workers with routine tasks experience an even greater negative effect of robotization in terms of declines in their autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, we also discover that utilizing computers as tools for independent work can help workers maintain a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in industries and job roles that adopt robots. Our results highlight that by deteriorating work meaningfulness and self-determination, robotization can impact work life above and beyond its consequences for employment and wages.