The special issue has deadline for papers dated November 30, 2022 (The deadline has been extended from November 1.). For more detailed information and instruction for manuscript submissions, please see the call for papers at the Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies announcement page.
Digitalization is changing working lives in the Nordic countries bringing new activities to work routines, for example online meetings, report submissions via software systems, the use of AI and use of smart and interconnected pieces of machinery in production work. This offers opportunities and challenges. People can make use of flexible work, faster information flows, increased safety and lessened physical burden at work but may also have to deal with increased pressures for adapting to changing skill demands. Lack of digital skills and lack access to training can impact employability, career development, retirement decisions, and other aspects of working lives.
Digitalization-related opportunities and challenges are likely to be experienced differently by workers at different stages of their working lives (e.g., entry, mid-career, late career). Previous research has not yet fully established what are the challenges and the opportunities that digitalizing workplaces pose to workers at different working life stages and what kind of social inequalities and country-differences exist in workers’ responses to digitalization. The special issue helps to fill these gaps by exploring experiences of workers at different stages of their careers in digitalizing workplaces. The special issue focuses on the Nordic countries, as the Nordic countries are among the countries with the maximum progression of the digitalization of work in the world. The effects of digitalization on the workforce can be particularly well observed here. The special issue invites qualitative, quantitative, and conceptual studies.