Abstract
This chapter introduces robotization to the field of workplace bullying. Presenting a radically new yet highly contemporary path, the chapter makes a unique contribution to the field of workplace bullying by underscoring the inevitability of widening the current focus on humans to include robots, thereby reflecting ongoing developments in the world of work. It emphasizes that the substantive area must attend to knowledge which demonstrates that the relational feature integral to emotional abuse extends beyond human interaction to encompass human–robot interaction (HRI). The emergence of sophisticated social robots, whose features of autonomy, intelligence, expressiveness and collaboration ensure that they increasingly resemble humans, and the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence herald the evolution of robots from machines to work partners to nonbiological artificial life forms. As social robots populate workplaces together with humans, positive and/or negative interactions between these protagonists ensue. This chapter serves as a front-runner in putting together the available international literature on workplace bullying in the context of robotization, highlighting empirical evidence, showcasing theoretical explanations, discussing ethical issues and making recommendations for future research and action. Capturing the unfolding of workplace bullying in the context of robotization necessitates new nomenclature, and accordingly, we coin and use the terms workplace human bullying where only human protagonists are involved, workplace trans-entity bullying where both human and robot protagonists are involved and workplace robot bullying where only robot protagonists are involved. We also point to the novel possibility of robots as interventionists helping to tackle workplace bullying. Identifying children as perpetrators of workplace bullying, in contrast to existing findings in the field which speak exclusively of adult bullies, is another significant contribution. Overall, the chapter treads unchartered territory in the substantive area, providing new direction to the way forward in keeping with the current artificial intelligence (AI)-led business context.
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D’Cruz, P., Noronha, E. (2021). Workplace Bullying in the Context of Robotization: Contemplating the Future of the Field. In: D'Cruz, P., Noronha, E., Notelaers, G., Rayner, C. (eds) Concepts, Approaches and Methods. Handbooks of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0134-6_22
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