Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： With buzzwords such as “tool man”, “laborer” and “corporate slave” sweeping the workplace, workplace objectification has become an urgent topic to be discussed. With the increasing use of artificial intelligence, especially robots in the workplace, the workplace effects produced by robots are also worth paying attention to. Therefore, the present research aims to explore whether the penetration of robots into the workplace will produce or aggravate the phenomenon of workplace objectification. Based on the intergroup threat theory and previous related studies, the present research assumes that the salience of robot workers in the workplace will pose both realistic threats and identity threats to people, and the perception of these threats will reduce people's sense of control. According to the compensatory control theory, the decrease of perceived control will cause people to have a strong motivation of restoring control. And workplace objectification, the 4th strategy proposed by compensatory control theory (i.e., affirming nonspecific structure, or seeking out and preferring simple, clear, and consistent interpretations of the social and physical environments), can be used to restore the sense of control. Therefore, this paper hypothesizes that the salience of robot workers in the workplace will increase the workplace objectification, because robot salience will increase people's perceived threats of robots, which will lead to control compensation, which will eventually lead to more severe workplace objectification. In addition, the other three strategies proposed by compensatory control theory, namely, bolstering personal agency, affiliating with external systems perceived to be acting on the self's behalf, and affirming specific structure (i.e., clear contingencies between actions and outcomes within the context of reduced control), can moderate the effect of robot salience on workplace objectification. Other ways of affirming non-specific structure than workplace objectification can also moderate the effect of robot salience on workplace objectification. Based on theories of social psychology and combined with the realistic background of workplace objectification, this paper attempts to use diverse methods to test the above hypothesis. Specifically, experiments, big data, and questionnaire surveys will be adopted to explore the potential mechanism and boundary conditions of the impact of robot salience on workplace objectification. The present research consists of five studies. Study 1 verifies the existence of the phenomenon that robot salience has an effect on workplace objectification. Study 2 explores the chain mediating effects of perceived robot threat and control compensation. Study 3 examines the moderating effect of personal factors, including bolstering personal agency, affiliating with external systems perceived to be acting on the self's behalf, affirming specific structure, and other ways of affirming non-specific structure than workplace objectification. Study 4 examines the moderating effect of robot factors, including anthropomorphism and two dimensions of mind perception. Study 5 examines the moderating effect of environmental factors, including different organizational cultures and ethical organizational cultures, and explores the intervention strategies for workplace objectification. The present research helps to prospectively understand the possible negative effects of artificial intelligence in the workplace and put forward effective solutions.
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2023-03-04
Abstract： With buzzwords such as "tool man", "laborer" and “corporate slave” sweeping the workplace, workplace objectification has become an urgent topic to be discussed. With the increasing use of artificial intelligence, especially robots in the workplace, the workplace effects produced by robots are also worth paying attention to. Therefore, the present paper aims to explore whether people’s perception of robots’ threat to them will produce or aggravate workplace objectification. On the basis of reviewing the related research on workplace objectification and robot workforce, and combined with intergroup threat theory, this paper elaborates the realistic threat to human employment and security caused by robot workforce, as well as the identity threat to human identity and uniqueness. From the perspective of compensatory control theory, this paper proposes the deep mechanisms and boundary conditions of that perceiving robot threat will reduce people's sense of control, thereby stimulating the control compensation mechanism, which in turn leads to workplace objectification. This research is composed of eight studies. The first study includes two sub-studies, which investigate the relationship between perceived robot threat and workplace objectification through questionnaires and online experiments. This study tries to find a positive correlation and a causal association between perceived robot threat and workplace objectification. The second study includes three sub-studies, which explore why perceived robot threat increases workplace objectification. This study tries to verify the mediating effect of control compensation (sense of control), to explain the psychological mechanism behind the effect of perceived robot threat on workplace objectification, and to repeatedly verify it through different research methods. The third study includes three sub-studies. Based on the three compensatory control strategies proposed by the control compensation theory in addition to affirming nonspecific structure, this study tries to further explore the moderating effect of personal agency, external agency, and specific structure. The main findings of this paper are as follows. First, perceived robot threat will increase workplace objectification, and perceived robot identity threat has a stronger effect. Second, the sense of control plays a mediating role in the effect of perceived robot threat (mainly identity threat) on workplace objectification. Specifically, the higher the perceived robot identity threat, the lower the sense of control, and the more serious the workplace objectification. Third, the other three strategies proposed by compensatory control theory, namely strengthening personal agency, supporting external agency and affirming specific structure, can moderate the effect of perceived robot threat on workplace objectification. The main theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows. First, it reveals the negative influence of robots on interpersonal relationships and their psychological mechanism. Second, it extends the explanatory boundary of compensatory control theory to the field of artificial intelligence, proposing and verifying that perceived robot threat increases workplace objectification through compensatory control. Third, the relationship between different compensation control strategies is discussed, and the moderating model of perceived robot threat affecting workplace objectification is proposed and verified. The main practical contributions are: first, to provide reference for the anthropomorphic design of robots; second, it helps to better understand, warn and deal with the negative social impact of robots.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2022-01-17
Abstract：
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Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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