CfP: Digitalization of work: Barriers and benefits for equality, diversity and inclusion
1 July 2021
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Call for Papers Special Issue 1/2022 Zeitschrift für Diversitätsforschung und -management
Special issue editors:
Daniela Rastetter, Anna Mucha and Stephan Schmucker, University of Hamburg
Angela Kornau, Vanessa Bernauer and Barbara Sieben, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg
Digitalization is omnipresent and fundamentally challenges the way we work and organize (Brougham/Haar 2018; Hagel et al. 2017). Whereas digitization refers to the mere technical process of converting analogue into digital information, organizational digitalization includes the view on ‘the sociotechnical process of exploiting digitization potentials for operational and/or strategic purposes’ (Strohmeier 2020: 349). The related digital transformation touches upon all aspects of organizational life and permeates organizational practices including human resource management (HRM) (Bondarouk/Brewster 2016; Bondarouk et al. 2019; Strohmeier 2020) and forms of communication (Martin et al. 2015). For instance, HR managers have started using artificial intelligence, algorithms (e.g. Duggan et al. 2020) or gaming (e.g. Ellison et al. 2020) in processes of personnel recruitment, appraisal and development. Social media platforms substitute or complement face-to-face communication (Martin et al. 2015; Mennie 2015)
and teamwork is increasingly organized virtually (Kremer/Janneck 2013). These dynamics are further fuelled by COVID-19 pandemic that caused many people across the globe to work from home (World Economic Forum 2020) resulting in virtual work becoming the ‘new normal’ (Hofmann et al. 2020).
Recently, there has been a growing interest in better understanding how the digitalization of organizations impacts inequalities at work (cf. Georgiadou et al. 2020). On the one hand, exclusion may result from the unequal access to digital technologies (DiMaggio et al. 2004), from technological tools that perpetuate stereotypes through ‘algorithmic bias’ (Rastetter 2020: 164) instead of eliminating them (see also Daugherty et al. 2019; Meyer 2018), or the neglect of diverse voices in the development of such tools (Büchel 2018; Simonite 2018; see also Kutzner/Schnier 2017). On the other hand, digitalization may offer potential in enhancing equality, diversity and inclusion in organizations under certain conditions (Rastetter 2020), e.g. by creating more direct, decentralized and flexible opportunities to collaborate and participate in decision making (Bernauer/Kornau 2020; Carstensen 2020; Kutzner/Schnier 2017).
In this special issue, we would like to stimulate a discussion about barriers and potential benefits of digitalization for workplace equality, diversity and inclusion. Contributions from various countries, organizational settings and disciplines are welcome. The following topics and questions are indicative, but not exhaustive:
- In what ways do electronic or digital HRM practices (re)produce (in)equalities? How do e.g., electronic recruitment or appraisal processes, affect inequalities in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, disability and other dimensions? In which ways can digital tools help to overcome human biases?
- What role do intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, disability and other dimensions play in the use of digital tools? E.g., what is needed and can be done to avoid multiple discrimination based on gender and race in terms of facial recognition algorithms in recruiting processes?
- How does an understanding of leadership changed by digitization (e.g. shared leadership in virtual teams) affect the inclusion and participation of different (marginalized) employee groups? What benefits and barriers can be identified?
- How does digitalized communication in a broader sense (e.g. social media, virtual team meetings, con-ferences, teaching) affect inclusion and participation of various groups? What are its limits and oppor-tunities?
- How does the implementation of digitalized practices and related implications for inequalities vary across organizational settings? Are certain organizational forms better suited to use the potentials of digitalization to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion (e.g., start-ups, internet collectives)? If so, why and how?
- What variations do we see in different country contexts? In what ways do discourses on digitalization address political action and resistance against potentially discriminatory effects?
- What innovative ideas exist in research and practice to enhance proactively awareness and compe-tences around equality, diversity and inclusion through digital technologies (e.g., Apps, Gaming)?
For the scientific part of this special issue, we invite both theoretical and conceptional as well as empirical contributions, ranging from 35,000 to a maximum of 45,000 characters (including spaces). For the ‘research outlines and positions’ category, we are looking for ideas and drafts for research projects as well as trenchant – even provocative– positions can be submitted. Such contributions should be between 12,000 and 15,000 characters (including spaces). We explicitly welcome practice-based contributions on this topic, also in the range of 12,000 to max. 15,000 characters (incl. spaces).
You will find further information regarding submission guidelines on the website zdfm.budrich-journals.de. Please submit all contributions online: https://www.jdrm.de/.
The deadline for the submission of full scientific papers on this topic is July 1, 2021. Research outlines and positions as well as practice-based contributions can be submitted until September 1, 2021.
Please address any questions in advance to daniela.rastetter@uni-hamburg.de
We look forward to your submission!
The special issue editors
Daniela Rastetter, Anna Mucha, Stephan Schmucker, Angela Kornau, Vanessa Bernauer, Barbara Sieben
pdf-version of the Call for Papers
References:
Bernauer, V./Kornau, A. (2020): Inclusion through e-voice? An explorative case study of an internet collective. Präsentation des Projektes auf dem Herbstworkshop der Wissenschaftlichen Kommission Personal im VHB, Düsseldorf, September 2020.
Bondarouk, T./ Ruël, H./Roeleveld, B. (2019): Exploring electronic HRM: Management fashion or fad? In: Wilkinson, A./Bacon, N./Snell, S./Lepak, D. (Hg.): The Sage handbook of Human Resource Management, 2. Aufl., Los Angeles: Sage, 271–290.
Bondarouk, T./Brewster, C. (2016): Conceptualising the future of HRM and technology research. In: The International Journal of Human Resource Management 27(21), 2652-2671.
Brougham, D./Haar, J. (2018): Smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithms (STARA): Employees’ perceptions of our future workplace. In: Journal of Management & Organization 24(2), 239–257.
Büchel, B. (2018): Artificial intelligence could reinforce society’s gender equality problems. In: The Conversation UK, 1. März 2018. https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-could-reinforce-societys-gender-equality-problems-92631 [Zugriff 20.10.2020].
Carstensen, T. (2020): Orts und zeitflexibles Arbeiten. Alte Geschlechterungleichheiten und neue Muster der Arbeitsteilung durch Digitalisierung. In: Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft 74(3), 195-205.
DiMaggio, P./Hargittai, E./Celeste, C./Shafer, S. (2004): From unequal access to differentiated use: A literature review and agenda for research on digital inequality. In: Neckerman, K. (Hg.): Social Inequality. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 355-400.
Daugherty, P.R./Wilson, H. J./Chowdhury R. (2019): Using artificial intelligence to promote diversity. In: MIT Sloan Management Review 60(2), 10–12.
Duggan, J./Sherman, U./Carbery, R./McDonnell, A. (2020): Algorithmic management and app-work in the gig economy: A research agenda for employment relations and HRM. In: Human Resource Management Journal 30(1), 114–132.
Ellison, L. J./Johnson, T. M./Tomczak, D./Siemson, A./Gonzalez, M. F. (2020): Game on! Exploring reactions to game-based selection assessments. In: Journal of Managerial Psychology 35(4), 241–254.
Georgiadou, A./Olivas-Luján, M./Stone, D./Bondarouk, T. (2020): Special issue call for papers: inclusion/exclusion in the digitalized workplace. In: Human Resource Management Journal. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/pb-assets/assets/17488583/HRMJ%20-Inclusion%20Exclu-sion%20CFP%202020-1586341080253.pdf [Zugriff 22.10.2020].
Hagel, J./Schwartz., J./Bersin, J. (2017): Navigating the future of work: Can we point business, workers, and social institutions in the same direction? In: Deloitte Review 21, 27–45.
Hofmann, J./Piele, A./Piele, C. (2020): Arbeiten in der Corona-Pandemie – auf dem Weg zum New Normal. Stuttgart: Frauenhofer-Institut für Arbeitswissenschaft und Organisation in Kooperation mit der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Personalführung (DGFP).
Kutzner, E. K./Schnier, V. (2017). Geschlechterverhältnisse in Digitalisierungsprozessen von Arbeit: konzeptionelle Überlegungen und empirische Fragestellungen. In: Arbeit. 26(1), 137–157.
Kremer, M./Janneck, M. (2013): Kommunikation und Kooperation in Virtuellen Teams. Gruppendynamik und Organisationsberatung 44(4), 361–371.
Martin, G./Parry E./Flowers, P. (2015): Do social media enhance constructive employee voice all of the time or just some of the time? In: Human Resource Management Journal 25(4), 541–562.
Mennie, P. (2015): Social media, risk and governance: Managing enterprise risk. London, UK, Philadelphia: Kogan Page Publishers.
Meyer, D. (2018): Amazon reportedly killed an aI recruitment system because it couldn't stop the tool from discriminating against women. In: Fortune, 10. Oktober 2018. http://fortune.com/2018/10/10/ amazon-ai-recruitment-bias-women-sexist/ [Zugriff 20.10.2020].
Rastetter, D. (2020): Diversity – Diskriminierung – Digitalisierung: Kann digitalisierte Arbeit Diskriminierung abbauen und Diversity fördern? In: Frieß, W./Mucha, A/Rastetter, D. (Hg.): Diversity Management und seine Kontexte. Celebrate Diversity? Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Barbara Budrich, 159–172.
Simonite, T. (2018): AI is the future – But where are the women? In: WIRED, 17. August 2018. https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-researchers-gender-imbalance/ [Zugriff 20.10.2020].
Strohmeier, Stefan (2020): Digital human resource management: A conceptual clarification. In: German Journal of Human Resource Management 34(3), 345 –365.
World Economic Forum (2020): Working from home was a luxury for the relatively affluent before coronavirus – not any more. In: World Economic Forum, 21. März 2020.