Furthering engaged algorithmic management research: Surfacing foundational positions through a hermeneutic literature analysis

Abstract

This study undertakes a hermeneutic analysis of the growing literature on algorithmic management. Algorithmic management is a subset of algorithmic decision-making, also referred to as algorithmic work. To date, the underlying norms, and assumptions of researchers, and how assumptions shape understandings of algorithmic management, have been under investigated. Using a hermeneutic methodology, we uncover four different onto-epistemological positions in the literature based on two overarching worldviews. The first is techno-human dualism, rooted in dualist ontological assumptions foregrounding entities. The second is techno-human entanglement, grounded in relational perspectives that view the social and material as inseparable. The worldviews are comprised of four meta-understandings that form our framework: (1) the ‘techno-centric’ view gives primacy to the technology, with humans seen as a secondary feature; (2) the ‘techno-mediated control’ view focuses on managerial power with technology a tool for control and the organization of labor; (3) the ‘techno-human enactment’ view focuses on the performative aspects of algorithmic management; and (4) the ‘techno-human being’ view explores how algorithmic management affects identity (re)formation and meaning-making. We demonstrate how onto-epistemological assumptions configure interpretations of algorithmic management. We focus on algorithms (as a foundational and integral characteristic), organizational control (a core function), and human-in-the-loop configurations (as a possible safeguard). By surfacing the plurality of assumptions in algorithmic management research, we seek to foster more engaged scholarship and encourage the virtue of choosing a research position rather than inheriting it.