The link between computer use and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job tasks and task discretion
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| Author | Saverio Minardi,Carla Hornberg,Paolo Barbieri,Heike Solga |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12738 |
Received: 27 April 2022 Accepted: 10 February 2023
DOI: 10.1111/bj ir.12738
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The link between computer use and job
satisfaction: The mediating role of job tasks and
task discretion
Saverio Minardi1Carla Hornberg2Paolo Barbieri3
Heike Solga2,4
1Department of Statistics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
2Department ‘Skill Formation and Labor Markets’, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin, Germany
3Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Trento,Italy
4Institute of Sociology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Correspondence
Saverio Minardi, Department of Statistics,
University of Bologna, Via delle Belle Arti
41, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
Email: saverio.minardi2@unibo.it
Carla Hornberg, Department ‘Skill
Formation and Labor Markets’, WZB
Berlin Social Science Center,
Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin,
Germany.
Email: carla.hornberg@wzb.eu
Funding information
European Commission, Grant/Award
Numbers: 822330 – TECHNEQUALITY,
H2020-SC6-TRANSFORMATIONS-2018-
2019-2020/H2020-SC6-
TRANSFORMATIONS-2018
Abstract
This study focuses on the consequences of the use
of computerized work equipment (hereafter: computer
use) on the content and quality of work. It investigates,
first, the relationship between computer use and both
job tasks and task discretion and, second, their medi-
ating role for the relationship between computer use
and job satisfaction. With our German-UK compari-
son, we contribute to the long-standing debate on the
upskilling/de-skilling nature of the use of technology
and its repercussions on the quality of work. Weanalyse
data from the Skills and Employment Surveys for the UK
and the BIBB/BAuA Employment Surveys for Germany
using structural equation modelling. In line with the
literature on routine-biased technological change, we
show that computers are complementary to the perfor-
mance of less routine and more abstract cognitive tasks
and that this relationship is conducive to a higher level
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited.
© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Industrial Relationspublished by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
796 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bjir BrJ Ind Relat. 2023;61:796–831.
LINK BETWEEN COMPUTER USE AND JOB SATISFACTION 797
of task discretion and job satisfaction in both countries.
Accounting for differences in job tasks performed, we
find a negative direct effect of computer use on both task
discretion and job satisfaction in the United Kingdom
but not in Germany. Our results indicate that the ulti-
mate effect of computer use on both task discretion and
job satisfaction depends on the institutional contexts in
which technology is introduced.
1 INTRODUCTION
Since their early appearance in the workplace, computers have spurred a vivid debate on their
consequences for work, organizational and social processes. At the core of this debate lies the
question of whether adopting technology leads to an upgrading of skills or a downgrading of work
(Attewell, 1987;Bailey & Leonardi, 2015; Bloomfield & Coombs, 1992; Gallie, 1991). With the digital
transformation of work, this question has recently regained importance, partly because the skill
requirements of jobs are strongly associated with job quality and ultimately with workers’ job
satisfaction (Gallie, 2007) as well as with labour market inequalities (e.g. in terms of earnings)
(Autor, 2022;Kristal & Edler, 2019).
Despite its relevance, answers to the question of the upskilling or de-skilling nature of
technology—and the related consequences of technology for job quality—remain controversial.
Scholars from a largely Marxist tradition argue that technology is an instrument used to standard-
ize labour processes by reorganizing work intoa series of low- skilled tasks and that technology has
therefore resulted in lower-skilled jobs with little intellectual content and autonomy(Braverman,
1974; Jenkins & Sherman, 1979). Various qualitative case studies support this perspective empir-
ically (e.g. McNally, 2010). In contrast, scholars who support the upskilling thesis suggest that a
technology-driven decentralization of information (Acemoglu et al., 2007) and the complemen-
tarity of technology to non-routine cognitive tasks have increased the demand for skills and led
to large human-capital endowments (Autor et al., 2003; Goldin & Katz, 1998). This upskilling per-
spective is supported by a series of quantitative studies that document a steady growth in abstract
tasks and skilled occupations, with corresponding benefits for wages (e.g. Breemersch et al., 2017;
Fonseca et al., 2018; Keister & Lewandowski, 2017).
These conflicting perspectives and findings might result from conceptual differences in the
definition of skills: While upskilling proponents typically focus on the type and range of tasks per-
formed, de-skilling proponents refer to the degree of autonomy and to workers’ control over the
labour process. Several authors therefore suggest considering both distinct yet related dimensions
of occupational skills to derive a better understanding of the relationship (a) between technol-
ogy and both upskilling and de-skilling and (b) between technology and the quality of work (e.g.
Felstead et al., 2007; Martinaitis et al., 2021; Rolfe, 1986, 1990; Spenner, 1983, 1990; Vallas & Beck,
1996). This conceptual differentiation is also supported by the fact that trends in job tasks and
task discretion do not necessarily evolve in the same direction (Gallie, 2012). Moreover, whether
technology and the quality of work are positively or negatively related might depend on the type
798 BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
of job tasks and on workers’ task discretion (e.g. Hardin, 1960; Parayitam et al., 2010; Shepard,
1977).
Our study therefore addresses two research questions: First, we examine the link between
computer use (i.e. the use of any computerized equipment at work) and both job tasks and task
discretion and thereby reveal whether upskilling and de-skilling are indeed mutually exclusive.
Second, we investigate the mediating role of both job tasks and task discretion in the relationship
between computer use and job satisfaction. We take computer use as an indicator of the applica-
tion of technology because computers are the most widespread form of technologyused among the
labourforce(Autoretal.,2003; Elsayed et al., 2017; Green, 2012; Menon et al., 2019; Spitz-Oener,
2006).
In this aricle, we consider skills as a multi-dimensional feature of jobs rather than an individ-
ual characteristic of workers. This means that we do not refer to skills possessed by individuals
but rather to skills used at the workplace (in other words, the sets of occupational and organi-
zational skill requirements). This workplace/organizational understanding of skills is of primary
interest for our study because production technologies are adopted at the organizational level
and, therefore, they primarily alter the occupational and organizational demand for skills and
not necessarily the different types of skills individuals possess.
Wecompare these relationships in Germany and the United Kingdom as two exemplary cases of
different types of production regimes. This comparison challenges the deterministic notion of the
upskilling and the de-skilling thesis because both argue that the impact of technology is common
to all institutional and organizational contexts (e.g. Bailey & Leonardi, 2015). We maintain that
while computers are generally complementary to a specific set of tasks and substitutive to the
performance of others, their impact on organizational practices—and thus the extent to which
they impact the degree of workers’ task discretion—is contingent on the specific institutional
arrangements in which they are used (Autor et al., 2002). Germany and the United Kingdom are
characterized by clearly different institutional arrangements regarding their marketcoordination
(Estevez-Abe et al., 2001; Hall & Soskice, 2001), skill formation (Thelen, 2004) and corporate gov-
ernance (Waddington, 2004). The mixture of industrial and managerial practices and cultures in
these two countries might therefore influence how computers are adapted toproduction processes
and thereby shape workers’ task discretion and job tasks as well as their overall job satisfaction
(Gallie, 2007, 2011; Green & McIntosh, 2001).
Contributing to the existing literature, our study theoretically and empirically highlights how
job tasks and task discretion are related yet distinct aspects of occupational skills and investigates
their role as mediators in the relationship between technological innovation and workers’ job
satisfaction (i.e. workers’ assessments of the quality of work). Moreover, results from our study
are consistent with the idea that national institutional contexts moderate the impact of technology
on work organization and job satisfaction.
2A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE UPSKILLING/DE-SKILLING DEBATE
In the European debate, Friedmann (1946) is one of the most influential authors to argue that the
use of technology can lead to a decline in the quality of work by negating workers’ craftsman-
like skills/tasks and removing workers’ capacity to control the production process. As Gallie
(2012) notes, Friedmann identifies technology as the main factor behind the Taylorization of
work tasks and thereby behind the elimination of the opportunity for workers to exercise dis-
cretion, autonomy and control over their jobs. In the US debate, Leavitt and Whisler (1958)were
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