Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (España)
11 de abril de 2025
Resumen:
This dissertation investigates the emotional foundations of employee resistance to technological changes, especially robotization in the workplace. Most research on resistance centers on cognitive interpretations and rational decision-making. Although emotions are acknowledged in the change context, strategies to address resistance overemphasize cognitive upskilling and training. This thesis underscores the need to recognize and understand employees' emotional reactions, advocating for their inclusion in strategies to mitigate resistance. Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) emerges as a promising approach for managers to address and attenuate resistance by actively managing employees' negative emotions. Nevertheless, there is limited research on how leaders can employ IER to address employee resistance, creating a significant gap in both change resistance and IER literature. This thesis investigates effective interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) strategies to address employee resistance within the context of robotization. The first study, a systematic review, explores resistance as reactions to perceived threats from digital technologies, identifying four resistance pathways with related emotions and behaviors. The second study, a qualitative case analysis of two companies undergoing robotization, examines IER’s impact on mitigating resistance, emphasizing psychological safety as a crucial mediator between IER strategies and resistance. The third study, a quantitative experiment, evaluates perspective-taking as an IER technique, showing its potential to enhance psychological safety and reduce rejection of technological changes. Collectively, these studies investigate the role of emotions in resistance and assess the effectiveness of IER strategies in reducing opposition to digital transformation. This dissertation contributes to the literature by offering new perspectives on the emotional aspects of resistance to technological adoption. By exploring the link between emotional reactions and resistance, it provides practical models that complement traditional cognitive approaches. The findings will benefit both researchers and professionals by enhancing understanding of employee responses to technological changes. This study bridges theory and practice, offering organizations actionable emotional management techniques to improve technology-driven change implementation. It is particularly beneficial for experts in technology management, human resources, and change management, refining scholarly views and organizational strategies for smoother technology adoption transitions.
Palabras clave: Emociones, Regulación de las emociones, Adopción de tecnología, Robotización, Resistencia de los empleados Emotions, Emotion regulation, Technology adoption, Robotization, Employee resistance
Cita:
V. Cieslak, "Navigating employee resistance to digital technologies: understanding and addressing its emotional bases", Tesis Doctoral, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, España, 2025.
