A bibliometric analysis of research on ‘future of work’ and its impact on skills needed for jobs

The ‘future of work’ is a concept that has been used to describe the era of rapid automation and adoption of advanced technologies in industries and businesses. This ongoing advancement has resulted in concerns around job displacement, skill obsolescence, increased income and gender disparity, and how human and artificial intelligence would co-exist and shape the world. Although several research studies have explored these aspects in isolation of other factors, no attempt has been made to comprehensively map the research field so far. In this paper, we conduct a bibliometric analysis of 205 papers which appear in top business, economics, and management journals from 2000 to 2022. Biblioshiny, a web-based application included in the Bibliometrix package was used for the purposes of analysis. The software helped identify influential journals, authors, countries, articles, and themes. Additionally, network analysis helped map the conceptual, intellectual, and social structure of the shortlisted papers. We further develop a future research agenda for understanding technological change and ensuing labour market, skill set shifts. This paper and its findings contribute to the literature by offering a scientometric and systematic way to review ‘future of work’ and its impact on employee skill needs.