Are they coming for us? Industrial robots and the mental health of workers

IF 7.5 1区管理学 Q1 MANAGEMENT

Research Policy Pub Date : 2024-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.respol.2024.104956

Ana Lucia Abeliansky , Matthias Beulmann , Klaus Prettner

{"title":"Are they coming for us? Industrial robots and the mental health of workers","authors":"Ana Lucia Abeliansky , Matthias Beulmann , Klaus Prettner","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2024.104956","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>How does the increasing use of robots affect the mental health of workers? To investigate this question, we combine individual mental health data from the German Socioeconomic Panel with data on the stock of robots in 14 manufacturing sectors provided by the International Federation of Robotics for the period 2002–2018. Using mediation analysis and an instrumental variable approach, we find that higher robot intensity is associated with deteriorating mental health, an effect that is mainly driven by worries about job security and a lower sense of achievement on the job. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that higher robot intensity has particularly severe negative effects on the mental health of workers close to retirement, in low-skilled occupations and performing routine jobs. Women and men are affected similarly, as are workers of all educational levels. Our results indicate the presence of hidden (health) costs of automation that policymakers need to address.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733324000052/pdfft?md5=938ceedcc0db812add78956f2783a942&pid=1-s2.0-S0048733324000052-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Research Policy","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733324000052","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

How does the increasing use of robots affect the mental health of workers? To investigate this question, we combine individual mental health data from the German Socioeconomic Panel with data on the stock of robots in 14 manufacturing sectors provided by the International Federation of Robotics for the period 2002–2018. Using mediation analysis and an instrumental variable approach, we find that higher robot intensity is associated with deteriorating mental health, an effect that is mainly driven by worries about job security and a lower sense of achievement on the job. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that higher robot intensity has particularly severe negative effects on the mental health of workers close to retirement, in low-skilled occupations and performing routine jobs. Women and men are affected similarly, as are workers of all educational levels. Our results indicate the presence of hidden (health) costs of automation that policymakers need to address.

查看原文本刊更多论文

它们会来找我们吗？工业机器人与工人的心理健康

越来越多地使用机器人对工人的心理健康有何影响？为了研究这个问题，我们将德国社会经济小组提供的个人心理健康数据与国际机器人联合会提供的 2002-2018 年间 14 个制造业部门的机器人存量数据相结合。通过中介分析和工具变量法，我们发现机器人密集度越高，心理健康状况越差，而这一影响主要是由对工作安全的担忧和工作成就感的降低造成的。异质性分析表明，机器人密集度越高，对临近退休、从事低技能职业和常规工作的工人的心理健康的负面影响就越大。女性和男性受到的影响相似，不同教育水平的工人也是如此。我们的研究结果表明，自动化存在隐性（健康）成本，决策者需要加以解决。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Research Policy MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

12.80

自引率

6.90%

发文量

182

期刊介绍： Research Policy (RP) articles explore the interaction between innovation, technology, or research, and economic, social, political, and organizational processes, both empirically and theoretically. All RP papers are expected to provide insights with implications for policy or management. Research Policy (RP) is a multidisciplinary journal focused on analyzing, understanding, and effectively addressing the challenges posed by innovation, technology, R&D, and science. This includes activities related to knowledge creation, diffusion, acquisition, and exploitation in the form of new or improved products, processes, or services, across economic, policy, management, organizational, and environmental dimensions.