IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v50y2025i3p876-894.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The penetration of robotic technology, task content routinisation and job satisfaction: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Yuhong Du

    (School of Economics and Finance, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, China)

  • Hazrul Shahiri

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia)

  • Xiahai Wei

    (Institute of Economic Development and Reform, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, China)

Abstract

Faced with a surge in labour costs, companies are strongly incentivised by local governments’ aggressive promotion to embrace robotic technology, triggering intense media debates. This, in turn, inevitably shapes workers’ attitudes towards their current jobs and brings uncertainty about their future workplace. This study investigates the connection between robotisation, routinisation and job satisfaction in China’s labour market. The results show that there is an observed positive relationship between an individual’s job satisfaction and exposure to robots in the local labour market, which may be related to the overwhelming benefits of these new technologies about certain work dimensions. However, fear of automation is not groundless. Our findings show that job satisfaction decreased with an increase in the routinisation of task content, particularly in areas that are increasingly exposed to robot adoption. This supports the routine-biased technological change hypothesis, which connects technology-induced unemployment with job routinisation. JEL Classification: J28, O33

Suggested Citation

  • Yuhong Du & Hazrul Shahiri & Xiahai Wei, 2025. "The penetration of robotic technology, task content routinisation and job satisfaction: Evidence from China," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 50(3), pages 876-894, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:50:y:2025:i:3:p:876-894
    DOI: 10.1177/03128962241240105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03128962241240105
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/03128962241240105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:50:y:2025:i:3:p:876-894. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.