Negative Influences of the 4th Industrial Revolution on the Workplace

Towards a Theoretical Model of Entropic Citizen Behavior in Toxic Organizations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15510751
AutoresDavid Coldwell (0000-0002-5377-5147, University of the Witwatersrand, autor de correspondencia), David A L Coldwell (University of the Witwatersrand)
Año2019
Volumen16
Número15
Páginas2670-2670
Fecha de publicación2019-07-25
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
EditorialMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph16152670
PMID31349722
OpenAlexW2963577673
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas28

The 4th industrial revolution, referred to as a 'second coming' of the 'digital era,' has introduced both positive and negative effects on the workplace. While digitalization and automation have taken the drudgery out of work for some and released them to enjoy qualitative improvements at work and higher salaries, others have been thrust into low-paying work and unemployment with negative effects on their well-being and mental health. In many cases stress and threats of job loss created by digital era automation have generated negative workplace behavior and workplace outcomes. The 4th industrial revolution and its burgeoning information technology have presented widespread access to information to stakeholders and the general public about organizational business and environmental performance. This open access to information has driven toxic business leaders to maintain company profitability and environmental sustainability by pressuring employees to find solutions to difficult organizational problems with short timelines attached. Employees often are required to 'go the extra mile' to achieve organizational goals through forms of organizational citizenship behavior. Additionally, although organizational citizenship behavior can generate significant benefits for a company, toxic and entropic workplace outcomes can also occur from its more extreme manifestations arising from the stressful circumstances digitalization and automation of work have created. The methodological approach adopted in this paper is a secondary data analysis which uses reliable and valid sources of report documentation to corroborate a theoretical model of organizational citizenship behavior entropy. The theoretical model suggests that extreme forms of organizational citizenship behavior associated with the digital era can create toxic leaders and business organizations that lead to organizational entropy

Business · Industrial Revolution · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology