Negative Influences of the 4th Industrial Revolution on the Workplace: Towards a Theoretical Model of Entropic Citizen Behavior in Toxic Organizations

David A. L. Coldwell

56 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior Workplace Health and Well-being Corporate Management and Leadership

Abstract

The 4th industrial revolution, referred to as a 'second coming' of the 'digital era,' has introduced both positive and negative effects on the workplace. While digitalization and automation have taken the drudgery out of work for some and released them to enjoy qualitative improvements at work and higher salaries, others have been thrust into low-paying work and unemployment with negative effects on their well-being and mental health. In many cases stress and threats of job loss created by digital era automation have generated negative workplace behavior and workplace outcomes. The 4th industrial revolution and its burgeoning information technology have presented widespread access to information to stakeholders and the general public about organizational business and environmental performance. This open access to information has driven toxic business leaders to maintain company profitability and environmental sustainability by pressuring employees to find solutions to difficult organizational problems with short timelines attached. Employees often are required to 'go the extra mile' to achieve organizational goals through forms of organizational citizenship behavior. Additionally, although organizational citizenship behavior can generate significant benefits for a company, toxic and entropic workplace outcomes can also occur from its more extreme manifestations arising from the stressful circumstances digitalization and automation of work have created. The methodological approach adopted in this paper is a secondary data analysis which uses reliable and valid sources of report documentation to corroborate a theoretical model of organizational citizenship behavior entropy. The theoretical model suggests that extreme forms of organizational citizenship behavior associated with the digital era can create toxic leaders and business organizations that lead to organizational entropy.

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References

2000Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Critical Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature and Suggestions for Future Research 1986Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification, and internalization on prosocial behavior.1973Objective Knowledge, an Evolutionary Approach.1993Expanding the Criterion Domain to Include Elements of Contextual Performance 1997Task Performance and Contextual Performance: The Meaning for Personnel Selection Research 1986An Evolutionary Approach to Norms 1986Prosocial Organizational Behaviors 2021Fourth Industrial Revolution

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