IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eurjou/v29y2023i4p367-391.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is it all the same? Types of innovation and their relationship with direct control, technical control and algorithmic management

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Fana
  • Davide Villani

Abstract

Using firm-level data from 28 European countries, this paper explores the relationship between two types of innovation (process and digital) and different forms of control (direct and indirect) at the workplace. We find that (1) digital innovation is more common than process innovation; (2) more innovative firms record higher levels of indirect control (especially related to algorithmic management) and lower levels of direct control; (3) the relationship between innovation and control is not uniform across European regions. These findings nurture the debate on the future of work as the process of digitalisation may promote a shift towards indirect forms of control and contribute to reducing the degree of direct control. Moreover, these changes may also affect the bargaining process and lead to a redefinition of managerial roles, though it should be acknowledged that social and institutional factors play an important role in shaping this process.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Fana & Davide Villani, 2023. "Is it all the same? Types of innovation and their relationship with direct control, technical control and algorithmic management," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(4), pages 367-391, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:29:y:2023:i:4:p:367-391
    DOI: 10.1177/09596801231180399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09596801231180399
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09596801231180399?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2009. "Job Polarization in Europe," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 58-63, May.
    2. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira, 2020. "Trust and Workplace Performance," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(4), pages 874-903, December.
    3. Giedo Jansen, 2014. "Effects of Union Organization on Strike Incidence in EU Companies," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(1), pages 60-85, January.
    4. Alan Felstead & Nick Jewson & Sally Walters, 2003. "Managerial Control of Employees Working at Home," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 241-264, June.
    5. Amable, Bruno, 2003. "The Diversity of Modern Capitalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199261147.
    6. Sara Baiocco & Enrique Fernández-Macías & Uma Rani & Annarosa Pesole, 2022. "The Algorithmic Management of Work and its Implications in Different Contexts," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2022-02, Joint Research Centre.
    7. Angelo Moro & Matteo Rinaldini & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2019. "Control in the era of surveillance capitalism: an empirical investigation of Italian Industry 4.0 factories," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(3), pages 347-360, September.
    8. Karen Yeung, 2018. "Algorithmic regulation: A critical interrogation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 505-523, December.
    9. Ernesto Cassetta & Umberto Monarca & Ivano Dileo & Claudio Di Berardino & Marco Pini, 2020. "The relationship between digital technologies and internationalisation. Evidence from Italian SMEs," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 311-339, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Surhan Cam & Serap Palaz, 2023. "Mutual interests management with a purposive approach: Evidence from the Turkish shipyards for an amorphous impact model between (subjective) well‐being and performance," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 40-70, January.
    2. Guendalina Anzolin, 2021. "Automation and its Employment Effects: A Literature Review of Automotive and Garment Sectors," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-16, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Salverda, Wiemer & Checchi, Daniele, 2014. "Labour-Market Institutions and the Dispersion of Wage Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 8220, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Tommaso AGASISTI & Geraint JOHNES & Marco PACCAGNELLA, 2021. "Tasks, occupations and wages in OECD countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(1), pages 85-112, March.
    5. Girardone, Claudia & Kokas, Sotirios & Wood, Geoffrey, 2021. "Diversity and women in finance: Challenges and future perspectives," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Bruno Amable & Donatella Gatti & Jan Schumacher, 2006. "Welfare-State Retrenchment: The Partisan Effect Revisited," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(3), pages 426-444, Autumn.
    7. Nathalie Greenan & Ekaterina Kalugina & Emmanuelle Walkowiak, 2014. "Has the quality of working life improved in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2005?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(2), pages 399-428.
    8. Holmes, Craig & Mayhew, Ken, 2015. "Have UK Earnings Distributions Polarised?," INET Oxford Working Papers 2015-02, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    9. Tschopp, Jeanne, 2015. "The Wage Response to Shocks: The Role of Inter-Occupational Labour Adjustment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 28-37.
    10. Bruno Amable, 2009. "The Differentiation of Social Demands in Europe. The Social Basis of the European Models of Capitalism," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(3), pages 391-426, May.
    11. Naguib, Costanza, 2019. "Estimating the Heterogeneous Impact of the Free Movement of Persons on Relative Wage Mobility," Economics Working Paper Series 1903, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    12. Karbowski, Adam, 2019. "Analiza otoczenia instytucjonalnego systemu tworzenia wiedzy w krajach Europy Środkowej [Analysis of the institutional environment of the knowledge subsystem in Central Europe]," MPRA Paper 95570, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    13. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/50jd34uldo9jioklc7b0dpu4ej is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Joachim Ahrens & Patrick Jünemann, 2011. "Adaptive Efficiency and Pragmatic Flexibility: Characteristics of Institutional Change in Capitalism, Chinese-style," Chapters, in: Werner Pascha & Cornelia Storz & Markus Taube (ed.), Institutional Variety in East Asia, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Loris Guery & Anne Stevenot & Geoffrey T. Wood & Chris Brewster, 2017. "The Impact of Private Equity on Employment: The Consequences of Fund Country of Origin—New Evidence from France," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 723-750, October.
    16. Robert Boyer, 2007. "Growth strategies and poverty reduction: the institutional complementarity hypothesis," Working Papers halshs-00587703, HAL.
    17. Sujin Park & Ali Tafti & Galit Shmueli, 2024. "Transporting Causal Effects Across Populations Using Structural Causal Modeling: An Illustration to Work-from-Home Productivity," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 686-705, June.
    18. Eichhorst, Werner, 2015. "Do We Have to Be Afraid of the Future World of Work?," IZA Policy Papers 102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Pisany Paweł, 2016. "Comparative Models of Capitalism in the Areas of Financial System and Corporate Governance – the Diversity of Capitalism Approach Perspective," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 52(1), pages 59-76, December.
    20. Eleni Kosta, 2022. "Algorithmic state surveillance: Challenging the notion of agency in human rights," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 212-224, January.
    21. Simon Deakin & Prabirjit Sarkar, 2008. "Assessing the Long-Run Economic Impact of Labour Law Systems: A Theoretical Reappraisal and Analysis of New Time Series Data," WEF Working Papers 0043, ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, Birkbeck, University of London.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:29:y:2023:i:4:p:367-391. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.