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Control in the era of surveillance capitalism: an empirical investigation of Italian Industry 4.0 factories

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  • Angelo Moro
  • Matteo Rinaldini
  • Jacopo Staccioli
  • Maria Enrica Virgillito

Abstract

We explore the extent to which the current technological trend, dubbed Industry 4.0, might increase forms of control inside organisations, by focussing on pivotal firms in the so-called Italian Motor Valley currently embracing its adoption. We find that Industry 4.0 technologies open up great possibilities for incorporating the three forms of control identified by Orlikowski (1991), i.e. personal, bureaucratic, and social, into technological artefacts, often blending them together. If, on the one hand, this implies a technical and theoretical feasibility of enforcing forms of 'Big Brother' surveillance within the boundaries of organisations, and hereby of the workplace, on the other hand, the actual achievement of these possibilities depends on the organisational environment within which the new technologies are implemented.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelo Moro & Matteo Rinaldini & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2019. "Control in the era of surveillance capitalism: an empirical investigation of Italian Industry 4.0 factories," LEM Papers Series 2019/07, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2019/07
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    1. Dan Kärreman & Stefan Sveningsson & Mats Alvesson, 2002. "The Return of the Machine Bureaucracy? - Management Control in the Work Settings of Professionals," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 70-92, January.
    2. Giovanni DOSI & Maria Enrica VIRGILLITO, 2019. "Whither the evolution of the contemporary social fabric? New technologies and old socio‐economic trends," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 593-625, December.
    3. Cirillo, Valeria & Rinaldini, Matteo & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2018. "Workers’ awareness context in Italian 4.0 factories," GLO Discussion Paper Series 240, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Jill RUBERY & Damian GRIMSHAW, 2001. "ICTs and employment: The problem of job quality," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 140(2), pages 165-192, June.
    5. Hal R Varian, 2014. "Beyond Big Data," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 27-31, January.
    6. Valeria Cirillo & Matteo Rinaldini & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2018. "Workers' intervention authority in Italian 4.0 factories: autonomy and discretion," LEM Papers Series 2018/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni DOSI & Maria Enrica VIRGILLITO, 2019. "Whither the evolution of the contemporary social fabric? New technologies and old socio‐economic trends," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 593-625, December.
    2. Guendalina Anzolin, 2021. "Automation and its Employment Effects: A Literature Review of Automotive and Garment Sectors," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-16, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Angelo Moro & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2022. "Towards Factory 4.0? Convergence and divergence of lean models in Italian automotive plants," International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 22(2), pages 245-271.
    4. Marta Fana & Davide Villani, 2023. "Is it all the same? Types of innovation and their relationship with direct control, technical control and algorithmic management," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(4), pages 367-391, December.
    5. Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2021. "Back to the past: the historical roots of labor-saving automation," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(1), pages 27-57, March.
    6. Cirillo, Valeria & Fanti, Lucrezia & Mina, Andrea & Ricci, Andrea, 2023. "The adoption of digital technologies: Investment, skills, work organisation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 89-105.
    7. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    8. Valeria Cirillo & Matteo Rinaldini & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2023. "Trade unions' responses to Industry 4.0 amid corporatism and resistance," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 76(305), pages 91-120.
    9. CIRILLO Valeria & RINALDINI Matteo & VIRGILLITO Maria Enrica & DIVELLA Marialuisa & MANICARDI Caterina & MASSIMO Francesco Sabato & CETRULO Armanda & COSTANTINI Eleonora & MORO Angelo & STACCIOLI Jaco, 2022. "Case studies of automation in services," JRC Research Reports JRC129691, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Stefan Ouma & Saumya Premchander, 2022. "Labour, Efficiency, Critique: writing the plantation into the technological present-future," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(2), pages 413-421, March.
    11. Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2020. "The present, past, and future of labor-saving technologies," LEM Papers Series 2020/37, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    12. Cirillo, Valeria & Rinaldini, Matteo & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2021. "Technology vs. workers: the case of Italy’s Industry 4.0 factories," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 166-183.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Industry 4.0; Organisational Change; Control; Saturation of Working Time.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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