Impacts of RPA on employees’ skill variety

In this paper we present a literature review on automation and robotic process automation (RPA). The review is developed into a conceptual framework that is grounded in a job characteristics model. The framework is used for analyzing empirical data from eleven semi-structured interviews in organizations that has adopted RPA. The research question explored is: How do employees perceive changes that Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has on their job characteristics? From the empirical data some conclusions can be drawn; the main conclusion being that the use of RPA has generated effects for the job characteristic “skill variety”. In line with the literature, this conclusion suggests that RPA results in an upskilling, and that employees perceive an increased level of job enlargement, as well as job satisfaction, due to these changes.