I have been researching employees perceptions of job security, in light of past technological task automation, and the perceived implementation of new technological task automation, and this research was the reason I set up this blog, to continue my exploration of the subject.
As part of that MSc, I have been researching technological unemployment – specifically the perceptions of job security in light of past and possible future technological automation of tasks.
This jaunt, (was never a fan of the word journey, when describing large parts of my life), has been interesting and has shown me that this research, although a very minor part of the larger subject of technological unemployment, is an area that needs further study, which I hope to do.
I say it is a minor part of a larger subject area, but like the Colorado River that flows into the Hoover Dam, if the water is not released then eventually the Dam will break or overflow. Employees’ perceptions can be seen like this….where they perceive the potential threat of technological task automation increasing to such a point they perceive their job is at risk of changing or becoming obsolete, they may start looking for another job, or their attitude will change toward their employer regardless of the actual threat level to their job caused by the automation of tasks.
Well, initial research has been completed and I have submitted my MSc, and although the results were not as conclusive as I would have liked, the research indicates that there could be a link between the perception of job security and technological task automation.
As I said the results were not as definitive as I would have liked, to clarify – the analysis of the answers to the survey questions did not give any ‘mathematical significance’, or to put it another way could not be statistically proved. However, the analysis does indicate that there could be a relationship between past, present or perceived future technological task automation and the perceptions an employee could have about their ongoing job security.
So I invite you to have a read, and I look forward to any feedback you may have
