The Rise of Robots Increases Job Insecurity and Maladaptive Workplace Behaviors: Multimethod Evidence

Robots are transforming the nature of human work. Although human–robot collaborations can create newjobs and increase productivity, pundits often warn about how robots might replace humans at work andcreate mass unemployment. Despite these warnings, relatively little research has directly assessed howlaypeople react to robots in the workplace. Drawing from cognitive appraisal theory of stress, we suggestthat employees exposed to robots (either physically or psychologically) would report greater job insecurity.Six studies—including two pilot studies, an archival study across 185 U.S. metropolitan areas (Study 1), apreregistered experiment conducted in Singapore (Study 2), an experience-sampling study among engineersconducted in India (Study 3), and an online experiment (Study 4)—find that increased exposure to robotsleads to increased job insecurity. Study 3 also reveals that this robot-related job insecurity is in turnpositively associated with burnout and workplace incivility. Study 4 reveals that self-affirmation is apsychological intervention that might buffer the negative effects of robot-related job insecurity. Our findingshold across different cultures and industries, including industries not threatened by robots.