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In this chapter, the authors offer a critical appraisal of predictions of a jobless future due do rapid technological change, as well as provide evidence on whether the rate of occupational change has been increasing. The authors critique the “task replacement” methodology that underlies the most powerful and specific predictions about the impact of technology on employment in particular occupations. There are a number of reasons why assuming a correspondence between task replacement and employment declines is not warranted. The authors also raise questions about how rapidly the development, acceptance, and diffiusion of labor-displacing technologies is likely to occur. In the empirical portion of the chapter, the authors compare the current rate of employment disruption with those observed in earlier periods. This analysis is based on an analysis of occupation data in the US covering the period 1870–2015. Using an index of dissimilarity as the metric, the authors find that the rate of occupational change from 1870 to 2015 does not provide evidence of a sharp uptick in the rate of occupational shifts in the information age. Instead, the rate of occupation shifts has been declining slowly throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Thus, the issues and results discussed here suggest that imminent massive employment displacement is not a foregone conclusion.

This chapter aims to encourage and guide smart industry HRM-related research by addressing upcoming challenges developed using a job design lens.

The challenges are constructed based on a developed overview of the existing body of work related to job design and a description of smart industry.

The challenges are meant as an indication of the issues that arise within job design due to smart industry and, in so doing, suggest directions for future research in this specific field. Additionally, through laying out challenges for this particular example, the chapter encourages scholars to consider the possible impact of smart industry within other HRM areas.

Purpose: The research investigates the presence of technology ideologies in consumer discourse on tourism and hospitality robots.

Design/methodology/approach: Using a netnographic approach, the research involved immersion in online discourses and collection of consumer posts from a variety of social media platforms. Data was subjected to a thematic analysis informed by the technology ideology framework described in the literature review.

Findings: Online consumer narratives about tourism and hospitality robots are dynamic and varied and reveal a multitude of technology ideology-related positions. The research confirms the applicability of the technology ideology framework to online discourses on service robots and finds that anthropomorphism triggers additional concerns.

Research implications: The findings suggest that future research on the acceptance and use of service robots should go beyond psychological concepts.

Practical implications: Without uncovering and understanding technology sensemaking processes with respect to service robots, the introduction of service robots in hospitality and tourism might trigger consumer resistance or lead to inferior service experiences.

Social implications: The research suggests that sensemaking of technology, specifically service robots, is complex and colored by pertinent ideologies. Policies and regulations regarding service robot adoption and implementation should consider these various positions.

Originality/value: The paper introduces technology sensemaking and technology ideology as important theoretical frameworks to understand consumer perceptions, attitudes, uses and relationships in regard to service robots in hospitality and tourism contexts.

To identify likely trends in American society and the economy and discuss their implications for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the paid workforce.

An overview of recent and likely future trends relevant to the workforce participation of Americans with disabilities.

While some trends in policy, technology, and culture are likely to promote wider participation by individuals with disabilities in paid employment, other factors in the emerging economy, labor markets, and workplaces may constrain such participation.

Uncertainty over future changes does not allow accurate forecasting of labor market trends for people with disabilities.

Many previous analyses have focused on developments within single arenas such as communications or transportation technology that might enable people with disabilities to participate more easily in paid employment. Our essay suggests the relevance of multiple contextual factors in shaping labor markets for potential workers with disabilities, but also identifies some likely constraints in expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

This chapter aims to clarify the future of the HR profession in the digital age by translating and extrapolating results of recent studies in a creative way. The main question is ‘What will be the effects of digitization on the HRM profession?’

The methodological approach is threefold. A theoretical concept of digital impact on the HRM profession is constructed based on a task-based analysis of the Ulrich roles. Second, in two sessions HRM Professionals reflect on the main question and give assessments. Third, a secondary analysis is carried out on the HRM practice monitor and five hypotheses are tested (primary role of HR, time spent in an activity cluster, typification of the HRM department).

The outcomes give no clear and unequivocal picture yet. Although the theoretical concept, actual research, professional literature and consulted professionals indicate that the HRM profession is already or will soon get more strategic due to digitization, the secondary analysis of the HRM practice monitor does not confirm that tendency.

The limitations of this research comprise flaws in the HRM practice monitor, the questionable web instrument and the lack of a clear and broadly accepted definition of digitization. Follow-up research seems to be very worthwhile and has a lot of possible starting points.

This research offers a new way of looking at the HRM profession in transition by combining the Ulrich model with a task-based analysis. Furthermore the evidence is based on 4 years (2012–2015) of data collection.

This chapter considers the disruption in employment and job growth due to the pervasive adoption of cognitive technologies that substitute for or augment humans. The educational system, which operates on regulated and prescribed practices for many academic majors, will be tested by rapidly changing requirements to be gainfully employed. Disruption, due to technological advances of cognitive systems, will be a constant in graduates’ professional life. We make a case for the adaptive innovator or T-shaped professional as the individual best suited to adapting to disruptions and constant change. Emphasis is placed on the importance of internships and co-ops as the strongest learning strategy institutions can use if they adjust their program practices for longer, continuous learning periods, and higher outcome expectations.