Harder, better, faster, stronger: digitalisation and employee well-being in the operations workforce

Abstract

Operations management is experiencing a digital transformation that affects the entire industry landscape. There has been scant research on how digitalisation affects employee well-being in the operations workforce. Using self-determination theory, we bridge this research gap by examining how basic psychological needs among the operations workforce are affected by digitalisation. Our empirical data is collected by a survey from 132 employees in the operations job function in the U.S. The empirical evidence is analysed in a configurational manner by using a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Our findings suggest there are five empirical important empirical solutions for explaining the presence of employee well-being, as well as four important empirical solutions for the absence (negation) of employee well-being. Our configurational solution consists mostly of both digital competence, social relatedness, and digital autonomy. This is in accordance with the self-determination theory. However, there are several alterations to how important they are among different configurational solutions. The presence of well-being in life and psychological well-being seems less relevant for obtaining well-being at work. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and provide recommendations to managers for how to promote employee well-being.