Opportunity or Threat? Exploring Middle Manager Roles in the Face of Digital Transformation
研究了数字自动化对中层管理者战略参与的影响，发现其效果取决于自动化任务的性质以及管理者的专业知识和职位任期。基于德国、瑞士和奥地利企业的纵向调查数据。
Abstract With the proliferation of automation technology, controversy concerning the impact of digital automation on middle‐managers’ strategic importance is rising. Some scholars adopt an ‘ automation‐as‐a‐threat ’ view to argue that digital automation replaces middle‐managers’ strategic value. On the contrary, others take an ‘ automation‐as‐an‐opportunity ’ view to underscore the role accumulation advantages digital automation offers for individuals in organizations. We acknowledge this debate and develop a contingency‐based role‐theoretical framework, suggesting that the impact of automation on middle‐managers’ strategic involvement depends on: (a) the nature of the middle‐management tasks subject to automation, and (b) the level of the individual middle‐manager's task‐related expertise and simultaneous role embeddedness – as defined by their position tenure. We test our framework using longitudinal survey data from German, Swiss and Austrian firms at four time points. Overall, our work takes an important step toward unravelling the complex and contingent impact of digital automation on middle‐managers’ strategic involvement in contemporary organizations.