Contesting the code

Labor–management conflicts over AI adoption and the role of power resources under German codetermination

Bibliographic Data

ID24230522
AuthorsMartin Krzywdzinski (0000-0002-3927-6616, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society , Berlin 10623), Philip Wotschack (0000-0001-5899-9310, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society , Berlin 10623)
Year2026
Publication date2026-10-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocio-Economic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-1461 • E-ISSN: 1475-147X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ser/mwag047
LanguageEN
References cited41

In the emerging literature on management–labor conflicts over AI implementation, two questions remain underexplored: how often such conflicts arise and what drives their emergence and outcomes? Drawing on power resources theory and strategic choice theory, this study addresses both questions by analyzing a survey of management representatives and works councils in 149 German companies. Conflicts center primarily on the implementation process of AI itself—involvement rights, trial phases, and expert access—rather than technology-specific issues like data protection and performance control. Strong institutional power resources of labor representatives (works council involvement and information access) reinforced by associational resources, significantly reduce conflict frequency by nudging management toward compromise-oriented strategies. However, once conflict arises, institutional and associational power resources lose their protective effect, and works councils report markedly diminished capacity to defend workers’ interests. This implies a balanced interpretation of the power of codetermination, recognizing its strengths but also limits.

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