Abstract:

With buzzwords such as “tool man”, “laborer” and “corporate slave” sweeping the workplace, workplace objectification has become an urgent topic to be discussed. With the increasing use of artificial intelligence, especially robots in the workplace, the workplace effects produced by robots are also worth paying attention to. Therefore, the present paper aims to explore whether people’s perception of robots’ threat to them will produce or aggravate workplace objectification. On the basis of reviewing the related research on workplace objectification and robot workforce, and combined with intergroup threat theory, this paper elaborates the realistic threat to human employment and security caused by robot workforce, as well as the identity threat to human identity and uniqueness. From the perspective of compensatory control theory, this paper proposes the deep mechanisms and boundary conditions of how perceiving robot threat will reduce people's sense of control, thereby stimulating the control compensation mechanism, which in turn leads to workplace objectification.

This research is composed of eight studies. The first study includes two sub-studies, which investigate the relationship between perceived robot threat and workplace objectification through questionnaires and online experiments. This study tries to find a positive correlation and a causal association between perceived robot threat and workplace objectification. As predicted, results showed that workplace objectification was positively correlated with perceived robot realistic threat (r = 0.15, p < 0.001) and perceived robot identity threat (r = 0.18, p < 0.001) (Study 1a). In Study 1b, workplace objectification in high perceived robot threat condition (M = 3.54, SD = 1.01) was significantly more than in low perceived robot threat condition (M = 3.32, SD = 0.92), F(1, 399) = 4.94, p = 0.027, η2 p = 0.01.

The second study comprises three sub-studies, which explore why perceived robot threat increases workplace objectification. This study aims to verify the mediating effect of control compensation (i.e., sense of control), to explain the psychological mechanism behind the effect of perceived robot threat on workplace objectification, and to repeatedly verify it through different research methods. In Study 2a, workplace objectification was positively correlated with perceived robot realistic threat (r = 0.12, p = 0.017) and perceived robot identity threat (r = 0.18, p < 0.001). In addition, a bootstrapping mediation analysis (model 4, 5000 iterations) showed that the effect of perceived robot identity threat on workplace objectification was mediated by sense of control, b = 0.02, 95%CI = [0.002, 0.038]. In Study 2b, workplace objectification in high perceived robot threat condition (M = 2.85, SD = 0.90) was significantly more than in low perceived robot threat condition (M = 2.64, SD = 0.65), F(1, 295) = 5.49, p = 0.020, η2 p = 0.02. Furthermore, a bootstrapping mediation analysis (model 4, 5000 iterations) showed that the effect of perceived robot identity threat on workplace objectification was mediated by sense of control, b = 0.11, 95% CI = [0.020, 0.228]. In Study 2c, a one-way ANOVA revealed that perceived robot threat influenced workplace objectification, F(2, 346) = 3.68, p = 0.026, η2 p = 0.02. Post-hoc pairwise comparison using Bonferroni showed that workplace objectification in perceived robot identity threat condition (M = 3.11, SD = 0.82) was significantly more than in control condition (M = 2.85, SD = 0.72), p = 0.028. Additionally, a bootstrapping mediation analysis (model 4, 5000 iterations) showed that the effect of perceived robot identity threat on workplace objectification was mediated by sense of control, b = 0.116, 95% CI = [0.027, 0.215].

The third study also consists of three sub-studies. Based on the three compensatory control strategies proposed by the control compensation theory, in addition to affirming nonspecific structure, this study tries to further explore the moderating effect of personal agency, external agency, and specific structure. As predicted, personal agency played a moderating role in the effect of perceived robot identity threat on workplace objectification. Specifically, in low personal agency condition, perceived robot identity threat had a significant effect on workplace objectification (b = 0.57, SE = 0.17, t = 3.30, p = 0.001), while this effect was not significant in high personal agency condition (b = −0.10, SE = 0.16, t = −0.62, p = 0.536) (Study 3a). In addition, external agency also significantly moderated the relationship between perceived robot identity threat and workplace objectification. Specifically, in low external agency condition, perceived robot identity threat had a significant effect on workplace objectification (b = 0.18, SE = 0.06, t = 2.63, p = 0.004), while this effect was not significant in high personal agency condition (b = 0.01, SE = 0.06, t = 1.10, p = 0.920) (Study 3b). Similarly, Study 3c revealed that specific structure also significantly moderated the relationship between perceived robot identity threat and workplace objectification. Specifically, in low external agency condition, perceived robot identity threat had a significant effect on workplace objectification (b = 0.24, SE = 0.07, t = 3.64, p < 0.001), while the effect was not significant in high personal agency condition (b = −0.02, SE = 0.07, t = −0.27, p = 0.784).

The main findings of this paper can be summarized as follows. First, perceived robot threat, especially identity threat, leads to an increase in workplace objectification. Second, the sense of control plays a mediating role in the effect of perceived robot threat (mainly identity threat) on workplace objectification. Specifically, the higher the perceived robot identity threat, the lower the sense of control, and the more serious the workplace objectification. Third, the other three strategies proposed by compensatory control theory, namely strengthening personal agency, supporting external agency and affirming specific structure, can moderate the effect of perceived robot threat on workplace objectification.

The main theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows. First, it reveals the negative influence of robots on interpersonal relationships and their psychological mechanism. Second, it extends the applicability of compensatory control theory to the field of artificial intelligence by proposing and verifying that perceived robot threat increases workplace objectification through compensatory control. Third, the relationship between different compensation control strategies is discussed, and the moderating model of perceived robot threat affecting workplace objectification is proposed and verified. The main practical contributions are twofold. First, it provides insights into the anthropomorphic design of robots. Second, it helps us to better understand, anticipate and mitigate the negative social impact of robots.

Key words: workplace objectification, perceived robot threat, realistic threat, identity threat, compensatory control theory