AI in telecommunications and game development: The role of worker voice in management strategy and job quality

Grant description:

AI and algorithms are being used in new workplace technologies to automate and augment production, service, and management tasks. Companies in the information and communications technology industry are at the forefront of both developing new AI-based tools and adopting them in their workplaces. This mixed-method study will examine how these companies in the telecommunications and video game development industries are applying AI and algorithm-based technologies in different service and technical occupations. These include call-center agents and technicians (telecoms) and quality-assurance workers and software engineers (game development). They will compare the role of management strategy, occupational characteristics, and collective worker voice through labor unions in these decisions, as well as their impacts on workers’ job quality. Findings will help to inform policies and labor union strategies to encourage productive and socially sustainable approaches to workplace AI adoption and deployment.