Van Doorn, Sebastiaan, Georgakakis, Dimitrios, Oehmichen, Jana et al. (1 more author) (2022) Opportunity of Threat? Exploring Middle Manager Roles in the Face of Digital Automation. Journal of Management Studies. ISSN 1467-6486
Abstract
With the proliferation of automation technology, controversy concerning the impact of digital automation on middle-managers’ strategic importance is rising. Some scholars adopt an ‘automation-as-a-threat’ view to argue that digital automation replaces middle-managers’ strategic value. On the contrary, others take an ‘automation-as-an-opportunity’ view to underscore the role accumulation advantages digital automation offers for individuals in organizations. We acknowledge this debate and develop a contingency-based role-theoretical framework, suggesting that the impact of automation on middle-managers’ strategic involvement depends on: (a) the nature of the middle-management tasks subject to automation, and (b) the level of the individual middle-manager's task-related expertise and simultaneous role embeddedness – as defined by their position tenure. We test our framework using longitudinal survey data from German, Swiss and Austrian firms at four time points. Overall, our work takes an important step toward unravelling the complex and contingent impact of digital automation on middle-managers’ strategic involvement in contemporary organizations.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > The York Management School |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2022 09:20 |
Last Modified: | 21 Jan 2025 18:06 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12880 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/joms.12880 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:193541 |
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Description: J Management Studies - 2022 - Van Doorn - Opportunity or Threat Exploring Middle Manager Roles in the Face of Digital
Licence: CC-BY-NC 2.5