Digital control in the workplace

Digital control in the workplace (Digital Control)

The research project Digital Control in the Workplace is concerned with uncovering processes of how relevant stakeholders deal with the (new) possibilities of digital control in the workplace.

The research interest focuses on the interests and conditions that lead to decisions on whether and how forms of digital control should be used.

In the course of the research project, the economic, institutional, social and individual determinants will be examined from both the employer’s and the employee’s perspective. In addition, the implementation of digital control systems will be influenced by employer-employee negotiations regarding the design and conditions of the technology to be used.

Chairs involved (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

  • Chair of Sociology and Empirical Social Research
  • Chair of Labor Market and Regional Policy
  • Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology

Project team

  • Prof. Dr. Martin Abraham (Chair of Sociology and Empirical Social Research)
  • Prof. Dr. Cornelia Niessen (Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology)
  • Prof. Dr. Claus Schnabel (Chair of Labor Market and Regional Policy)
  • Luisa Wieser (Chair of Sociology and Empirical Social Research)
  • Mauren Wolff (Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology)

Publications in the project

  • Wolff, M. S., White, J. C., Abraham, M., Schnabel, C., Wieser, L., & Niessen, C. (2024). The threat of electronic performance monitoring: Exploring the role of leader-member exchange on employee privacy invasion. Journal of Vocational Behavior. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104031
  • Wieser, L., & Abraham, M. (2024). Employee acceptance of digital monitoring systems while working from home. New Technology, Work and Employment, 39 (1), 109-142. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12280
  • Wolff, M. S., & Niessen, C. (2024). Everything under control? The impact of electronic monitoring type and social norms on privacy and reactance. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 23(3), 134–144. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000338
  • Wieser, L., Abraham, M., Schnabel, C., Niessen, C., & Wolff, M. (2023). When are employers interested in electronic performance monitoring? Results from a factorial survey experiment. IZA Discussion Paper No. 16261, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4490171 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4490171
  • Abraham, M., Niessen, C., Schnabel, C., Lorek, K., Grimm, V., Möslein, K., & Wrede, M. (2019). Electronic monitoring at work: The role of attitudes, functions, and perceived control for the acceptance of tracking technologies. Human Resource Management Journal, 29(4), 657-675.

Priority program of the German Research Foundation (DFG): Digitalization of the working worlds

The DFG Priority Programme investigates the social conditions and forms of processing of the current digitalization for the working society as a whole and the dynamics and impact of this systemic – i.e. uneven, interacting and contradictory – transformation. It is assumed that the digitalization of the world of work is taking place as a systemic transformation that is fundamentally and sustainably changing all institutional systems of the working society.