What about the future?

To date, social exchanges in organizations mostly took place between work-floor employees and managers. However, these days an increasing number of firms are using new technologies to manage their employees. This could alter the exchange relationships between employees and their employers.

How will the social exchange relationship take shape with computers, robots, and machines using Artificial Intelligence? Employees will have a more important relationship with technology. Will there be reciprocity with technology? How does management by robot look like?

At the same time, creativity is an important 21st century skill many repetitive tasks can be taken over by automation (robot), but creativity is something inherently human that is unreplaceable until this point in time.

Organizations should therefore emphasize the importance of creativity and innovative work behaviours and invest in programs that can make the workforce more creative.