IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/humman/v8y2023i3d10.1007_s41463-023-00163-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Expanding Understandings of ‘Work’ in Response to AI

Author

Listed:
  • Joe Alan Jones

    (King’s College)

Abstract

The increasing adoption of automated technologies in the world of work results in starkly opposing predictions. Some scholars argue that these technologies could lead to the utopian emancipation of society from economic necessity and meaningless work (Srnicek and Williams 2015, Bastani 2019, Danaher 2019); other scholars warn of the unintended technological unemployment and dystopian social upheaval that these technologies threaten (Ford 2015; Jones 2021; Mueller 2021). In either instance, the increasing presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation in the world of work is forcing us to consider conceptions of work beyond economic necessity: but the drive to remove necessity as a whole from the human condition can lead to unintendedly bleak and inhuman futures, where meaningful work might be made redundant by the very technologies intended to provide it. In response, this paper will critique conceptions of work as paid employment, while also highlighting the limits of adopting wholly technological means to remove economic necessity. I will offer an alternate understanding of work beyond paid employment, as two distinct modes of activity: labour and work. In doing so, I will recontextualise necessity in work beyond economics, and provide a foundation for pursuing meaningful work, both now and into the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Joe Alan Jones, 2023. "Expanding Understandings of ‘Work’ in Response to AI," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 379-397, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:humman:v:8:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s41463-023-00163-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s41463-023-00163-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41463-023-00163-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41463-023-00163-7?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruth Yeoman, 2014. "Conceptualising Meaningful Work as a Fundamental Human Need," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Meaningful Work and Workplace Democracy, chapter 1, pages 8-38, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Ruth Yeoman, 2014. "Conceptualising Meaningful Work as a Fundamental Human Need," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 235-251, December.
    3. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santiago Mejia, 2023. "The Normative and Cultural Dimension of Work: Technological Unemployment as a Cultural Threat to a Meaningful Life," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 847-864, July.
    2. David A. Spencer, 2023. "Automation and Well-Being: Bridging the Gap between Economics and Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 271-281, October.
    3. Christopher Belanger & Samia Chreim & Silvia Bonaccio, 2024. "The Experience and Implications of Meaningless Work in the Public Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 563-578, December.
    4. Harry Hummels & Patrick Nullens, 2022. "‘Other-wise’ Organizing. A Levinasian Approach to Agape in Work and Business Organisations," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 211-232, October.
    5. Lei Qi & Xin Wei & Yuhan Li & Bing Liu & Zikun Xu, 2020. "The Influence of Mistreatment by Patients on Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention among Chinese Nurses: A Three-Wave Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-16, February.
    6. Mai Chi Vu & Roger Gill, 2023. "Are Leaders Responsible for Meaningful Work? Perspectives from Buddhist-Enacted Leaders and Buddhist Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 347-370, October.
    7. Samuel A. Mortimer, 2023. "What Makes Work Meaningful?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 835-845, July.
    8. Caleb Bernacchio, 2021. "Virtue Beyond Contract: A MacIntyrean Approach to Employee Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 227-240, June.
    9. S. Fremeaux & F. Henry, 2023. "Temporality and meaningful entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-04336897, HAL.
    10. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    11. Rai, Arpana & Kim, Minseo & Singh, Sanjay Kumar, 2023. "Meaningful work from ethics perspective: Examination of ethical antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    12. Evgenia I. Lysova & Jennifer Tosti-Kharas & Christopher Michaelson & Luke Fletcher & Catherine Bailey & Peter McGhee, 2023. "Ethics and the Future of Meaningful Work: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 713-723, July.
    13. Elisabeth Nöhammer, 2022. "Meaning, Needs, and Workplace Spirituality," Merits, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    14. Arnaldo Camuffo & Federica Stefano & Chiara Paolino, 2017. "Safety Reloaded: Lean Operations and High Involvement Work Practices for Sustainable Workplaces," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 245-259, June.
    15. Yejun Zhang & Mark C. Bolino & Kui Yin, 2023. "The Interactive Effect of Perceived Overqualification and Peer Overqualification on Peer Ostracism and Work Meaningfulness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 699-716, January.
    16. Wen Wang & Roger Seifert, 2022. "The End of Meaningful Work in the Not-for-Profit Sector? A Case Study of Ethics in Employee Relations Under the New Business-Like Operation Regime," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 1-14, November.
    17. Samo, Andrew, 2025. "Modeling meaningful work: A complementary variable- and person-centered approach to the psychometric structure of meaningful work," OSF Preprints txawv_v1, Center for Open Science.
    18. Shakeel Ahmed & Zarain Islam & Mashhood Ur Rehman & Muhammad Hasnain Ali, 2021. "Meaningful Leadership: How Can Leader Contribute To Meaningful Work? The Mediating Role Of Cooperativeness," ILMA Journal of Social Sciences & Economics (IJSSE), Ilma University, Faculty of Management Science, vol. 1(1), pages 1-14.
    19. Tuure Haarjärvi & Sari Laari-Salmela, 2022. "Examining the Role of Dignity in the Experience of Meaningfulness: a Process-Relational View on Meaningful Work," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 417-440, December.
    20. Caleb Bernacchio, 2023. "Business and the Ethics of Recognition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 1-16, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:spr:humman:v:8:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s41463-023-00163-7. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.