Future of Work and Technology: Technology, Identity, Self-Quantification, and Autonomy

Abstract

In many parts of the economy, technology plays an increasingly important role in the control and management of workers. In this presenter symposium, we bring together four studies that offer novel insight into different dimensions of the relationship between technology and work, including behavioral experiments, identity control, the importance of social and cultural context, and effects for professional identity and autonomy. Our studies taken together show the importance of technology in a wide range of settings—platform-mediated work, such as ride-hailing and software development, platform-work, such as Instagram influencers, and professional work performed in labor and delivery wards. By offering examinations of the intersections between technology and control in a variety of work contexts, both newer and more traditional, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, our symposium promises novel insights into the evolving and future role of technology in relationship between work and workers. The Experimental Hand: Experimentation as a Mode of Platform Governance Presenter: Hatim A. Rahman; Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Metrics as Identity Baits Presenter: Farnaz Ghaedipour; McMaster U. The Platform is Not Neutral: An Investigation of App-Based Work through a Global Comparative Ethnogr Presenter: Lindsey Cameron; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Nicholas Occhiuto; EMLYON Business School Presenter: Bobbi Thomason; Pepperdine Graziadio Business School Technologies of Quantification and the Autonomy of Action: The Case of Electronic Fetal Monitoring Presenter: Melissa Mazmanian; U. of California, Irvine Presenter: Kathleen Pine; Arizona State U.