Technological change and work: The relation between technology implementation within organizations and changes in workers’ employment

Abstract

Despite concerns about the consequences of technological change for work, we have limited knowledge of how it impacts workers' employment in organizations. Ten Berge addresses this knowledge gap by studying how technology implementation within Dutch enterprises affects workers' job ending, the success of workers' job searches, and the organizational workforce's composition. Furthermore, he investigates how technology's consequences differ depending on the characteristics of workers, organizations, and the institutional context.

Results indicate that the effects of enterprises’ technology implementation on employment are small. Technology seems to decrease rather than increase workers' chances of leaving the organization, but leavers engage in a somewhat more extended search for a new job. Insofar as technology affects employment, it appears to strengthen existing inequalities, disadvantaging lower educated and older employees and first-generation non-Western immigrant workers from non-Dutch speaking countries.