The Vicious Circles of Skill Erosion: A Case Study of Cognitive Automation

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dc.contributorAalto-yliopistofi
dc.contributorAalto Universityen
dc.contributor.authorRinta-Kahila, Tapanien_US
dc.contributor.authorPenttinen, Eskoen_US
dc.contributor.authorSalovaara, Anttien_US
dc.contributor.authorSoliman, Waelen_US
dc.contributor.authorRuissalo, Joonaen_US
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Information and Service Managementen
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Designen
dc.contributor.organizationUniversity of Queenslanden_US
dc.contributor.organizationUniversity of Agderen_US
dc.date.accessioned2023-09-18T04:20:12Z
dc.date.available2023-09-18T04:20:12Z
dc.date.issued2023-09en_US
dc.description.abstractCognitive automation powered by advanced intelligent technologies is increasingly enabling organizations to automate more of their knowledge work tasks. Although this often offers higher efficiency and lower costs, cognitive automation exacerbates the erosion of human skill and expertise in automated tasks. Accepting the erosion of obsolete skills is necessary to reap the benefits of technology—however, the erosion of essential human expertise is problematic if workers remain accountable for tasks for which they lack sufficient understanding, rendering them incapable of responding if the automation fails. Though the phenomenon is widely acknowledged, the dynamics behind such undesired skill erosion are poorly understood. Thus, taking the perspective of sociotechnical systems, we conducted a case study of an accounting firm that had experienced skill erosion over a number of years due to reliance on their software’s automated functions. We synthesized our findings using causal loop modeling based on system dynamics. The resulting dynamic model explains skill erosion via an interplay between humans’ automation reliance, complacency, and mindful conduction. It shows how increasing reliance on automation fosters complacency at both individual and organizational levels, weakening workers’ mindfulness across three work task facets (activity awareness, competence maintenance, and output assessment), resulting in skill erosion. Such skill erosion may remain obscure, acknowledged by neither workers nor managers. We conclude by discussing the implications for theory and practice and identifying directions for future research.en
dc.description.versionPeer revieweden
dc.format.extent35
dc.format.extent1378-1412
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationRinta-Kahila, T, Penttinen, E, Salovaara, A, Soliman, W & Ruissalo, J 2023, ' The Vicious Circles of Skill Erosion: A Case Study of Cognitive Automation ', Journal of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 24, no. 5, 2, pp. 1378-1412 . https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00829en
dc.identifier.doi10.17705/1jais.00829en_US
dc.identifier.issn1536-9323
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 487e1ae4-8bf7-42d9-96a0-cfebdbcc02aaen_US
dc.identifier.otherPURE ITEMURL: https://research.aalto.fi/en/publications/487e1ae4-8bf7-42d9-96a0-cfebdbcc02aaen_US
dc.identifier.otherPURE LINK: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172466310&partnerID=8YFLogxKen_US
dc.identifier.otherPURE FILEURL: https://research.aalto.fi/files/121608252/rinta_kahila2023_The_Vicious_Circles_of_Skill_Erosion_A_Case_Study_of_Cognitive_Automation.pdfen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/123572
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:fi:aalto-202309185929
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherAssociation for Information Systems
dc.relation.ispartofseriesJournal of the Association for Information Systemsen
dc.relation.ispartofseriesVolume 24, issue 5en
dc.rightsopenAccessen
dc.subject.keywordCognitive Automationen_US
dc.subject.keywordSkill Erosionen_US
dc.subject.keywordDeskillingen_US
dc.subject.keywordKnowledge Worken_US
dc.subject.keywordArtificial Intelligenceen_US
dc.subject.keywordAccountingen_US
dc.subject.keywordSystem Dynamicsen_US
dc.subject.keywordCase Studyen_US
dc.titleThe Vicious Circles of Skill Erosion: A Case Study of Cognitive Automationen
dc.typeA1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessäfi
dc.type.versionpublishedVersion
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