Initial research topic:

• My prior topic idea was too broad because it asked how automation impacts the workplace, but it did not specifically try to look at one aspect of automation that could have an impact on the workplace. I decided to redo it and ask a more specific question for my topic to get a narrower focus on what I want to study.

Main Focus:

• My main question is how does an individual’s income impact automation perceptions in the workplace? I believe this question is less broad in scope and focuses on a potential variable that could or could not have an impact on individual perceptions in the workplace. The difference between the current research question, and the prior proposal is that the current one classifies more of what I am going to be looking at within my study, which is an individual’s income and if that has an impact on their perceptions toward automation.

Secondary Research Topic Question:

• My secondary research question would be does age have an impact on individual perceptions of automation in the workplace? This would mostly look at the age groups of participants to see if age played a factor in how they view automation. It could be that those who are younger are more accepting of automation integration while those who are older may not be as welcoming. I believe that this would also be an interesting route to pursue.

Any Research?

• I found research that is like my topic, but they did not look exactly at the income levels for the participant and instead looked at job levels from low-skilled jobs to high-skilled jobs. In 2018, Brougham and Haar evaluated automation perceptions in workers who worked in different job positions using a mixed-methods design and determined that many individuals do not perceive automation to be a threat to their job security.

Potential Databases:

Applied Science & Technology- I  found this database through using EBSCOhost. It has a lot of academic journals, new articles, and periodicals on current technological trends. I was able to find a lot of interesting information about how people felt towards automation within the workplace, so I thought this database would be useful for my research topic.

Computer Science Collection- This database has more current information on technological trends in 2021 and provided a lot of articles on automation in the workplace.  This database goes through Gale OneFile, and I like the fact that this database has more current information on the studies being done on human perception towards automation. Most of my previous searches on other databases usually had information that were a couple years old, so it was nice to see an extensive amount of research done in 2021.

Business Source Premier-  I found this database through EBSCOhost. This database is good for providing industry reports and scholarly articles. This was where I found more information about how automation impacts the workplace along with employee perceptions. My research is focused on seeing how income impacts an individual’s perceptions of automation in the workplace , so most of my data will be coming from businesses, industries, or from researchers who performed the study in a work setting.

References

Brougham, D., & Haar, J. (2018). Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA): Employees’ perceptions of our future workplace. Journal of Management and Organization, 24(2), 239-257. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2016.55

Sorells, B. (2018). Will robotization really cause technological unemployment? The rate and extent of potential job displacement caused by workplace automation. Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource Management, 6(2), 68-73. https://doi.org/10.22381/pihrm6220186