Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2023 |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7117 |
Resumo: | Digitalisation has a wide range of impacts on the workplace, such as enabling new work models with flexible work schedules, changing work content, or increasing workplace control. These changes directly affect not only individuals’ work but also their private lives. Scholars theorise that digitalisation either enables or impedes workers’ ability to maximise their work–life balance, which in turn fosters or inhibits the social inclusion of some societal groups and reduces or reproduces social inequalities. Focusing on the German healthcare sector, I explore the impact of using networked digital technologies on work–life balance, and whether it influences gender and educational inequalities. Pressured by government, economic concerns, and medical innovation, this sector is undergoing a transformation process that is expediting the introduction of new networked digital technologies. Thus, it provides an ideal setting for empirical investigation, as one core assumption about digitalisation is that technological innovation at work has societal consequences that must be individually mastered. To assess the relationship between digitalisation and work–life balance, I use survey data from hospital employees on the use of networked digital technologies and individual outcomes. The research is designed as a natural experiment. The treatment group comprises employees at a university hospital equipped with cutting‐edge networked digital technologies (N = 1,117); the control group comprises employees at several church‐owned hospitals (N = 415) with a level of digitalisation corresponding to the average for the sector. I first discuss confounders and then employ quantitative methods to establish a link between digitalisation and work–life balance, assess its direction, and address gender and educational inequalities. |
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Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitalsdigitalisation; Germany; healthcare; social inclusion; social inequality; work–life balanceDigitalisation has a wide range of impacts on the workplace, such as enabling new work models with flexible work schedules, changing work content, or increasing workplace control. These changes directly affect not only individuals’ work but also their private lives. Scholars theorise that digitalisation either enables or impedes workers’ ability to maximise their work–life balance, which in turn fosters or inhibits the social inclusion of some societal groups and reduces or reproduces social inequalities. Focusing on the German healthcare sector, I explore the impact of using networked digital technologies on work–life balance, and whether it influences gender and educational inequalities. Pressured by government, economic concerns, and medical innovation, this sector is undergoing a transformation process that is expediting the introduction of new networked digital technologies. Thus, it provides an ideal setting for empirical investigation, as one core assumption about digitalisation is that technological innovation at work has societal consequences that must be individually mastered. To assess the relationship between digitalisation and work–life balance, I use survey data from hospital employees on the use of networked digital technologies and individual outcomes. The research is designed as a natural experiment. The treatment group comprises employees at a university hospital equipped with cutting‐edge networked digital technologies (N = 1,117); the control group comprises employees at several church‐owned hospitals (N = 415) with a level of digitalisation corresponding to the average for the sector. I first discuss confounders and then employ quantitative methods to establish a link between digitalisation and work–life balance, assess its direction, and address gender and educational inequalities.Cogitatio Press2023-11-15info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7117https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7117Social Inclusion; Vol 11, No 4 (2023): Digitalization of Working Worlds and Social Inclusion; 225-2382183-280310.17645/si.i370reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/7117https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/7117/3519Copyright (c) 2023 Sebastian Schongeninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSchongen, Sebastian2024-01-04T13:36:30Zoai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/7117Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T22:53:51.421444Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
title |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
spellingShingle |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals Schongen, Sebastian digitalisation; Germany; healthcare; social inclusion; social inequality; work–life balance |
title_short |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
title_full |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
title_fullStr |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
title_sort |
Digitalisation as a Prospect for Work–Life Balance and Inclusion: A Natural Experiment in German Hospitals |
author |
Schongen, Sebastian |
author_facet |
Schongen, Sebastian |
author_role |
author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Schongen, Sebastian |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
digitalisation; Germany; healthcare; social inclusion; social inequality; work–life balance |
topic |
digitalisation; Germany; healthcare; social inclusion; social inequality; work–life balance |
description |
Digitalisation has a wide range of impacts on the workplace, such as enabling new work models with flexible work schedules, changing work content, or increasing workplace control. These changes directly affect not only individuals’ work but also their private lives. Scholars theorise that digitalisation either enables or impedes workers’ ability to maximise their work–life balance, which in turn fosters or inhibits the social inclusion of some societal groups and reduces or reproduces social inequalities. Focusing on the German healthcare sector, I explore the impact of using networked digital technologies on work–life balance, and whether it influences gender and educational inequalities. Pressured by government, economic concerns, and medical innovation, this sector is undergoing a transformation process that is expediting the introduction of new networked digital technologies. Thus, it provides an ideal setting for empirical investigation, as one core assumption about digitalisation is that technological innovation at work has societal consequences that must be individually mastered. To assess the relationship between digitalisation and work–life balance, I use survey data from hospital employees on the use of networked digital technologies and individual outcomes. The research is designed as a natural experiment. The treatment group comprises employees at a university hospital equipped with cutting‐edge networked digital technologies (N = 1,117); the control group comprises employees at several church‐owned hospitals (N = 415) with a level of digitalisation corresponding to the average for the sector. I first discuss confounders and then employ quantitative methods to establish a link between digitalisation and work–life balance, assess its direction, and address gender and educational inequalities. |
publishDate |
2023 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2023-11-15 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7117 https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7117 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7117 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/7117 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/7117/3519 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2023 Sebastian Schongen info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2023 Sebastian Schongen |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio Press |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio Press |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Social Inclusion; Vol 11, No 4 (2023): Digitalization of Working Worlds and Social Inclusion; 225-238 2183-2803 10.17645/si.i370 reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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1799135136399228928 |