Education pathways to mitigate automation anxiety: skill development as key for job satisfaction in the age of machines replacing human

Purpose The application of intelligent machine in the workplace has led to increasing concern about technically induced unemployment. This study is to investigate the mechanism of how such risk affects the job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach We use the secondary data from SHARE (wave 8) and a longitudinal survey to examine the influence mechanism of how intelligent machine job substitution risk affects job satisfaction. Findings Results show that intelligent machine job substitution risk has a negative impact on job satisfaction. Besides, skill development opportunity mediates the negative relation between intelligent machine job substitution risk and job satisfaction. Further, work support buffers the negative relation between intelligent machine job substitution risk and skill development opportunity, while enhancing the positive relation between skill development opportunity and job satisfaction. Originality/value This study is the first to examine the mediation role of skill development opportunity in the relation between the intelligent machine job substitution risk and job satisfaction. Also, this study is the first to explore the role of work support in the above relation. This study enriches relevant research regarding the intelligent machine application in workplace and provides important insights for organization management.