For workers with limited skillsets, “deskilling” technology—like ride-hail driver navigation apps—can make job opportunities more accessible, according to research published in the Strategic Management Journal.
In a series of experiments conducted with ride-hail drivers in Singapore, investigators found that for many drivers, the ability to use a navigation app made all the difference between whether a driver would or wouldn’t take a job. They observed that the apps reduced stress for inexperienced drivers—even lowering their heart rates on the road.
“The media is awash with warnings that technology will displace humans out of jobs,” said study coauthor I.P.L. Png, a Distinguished Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Forbes explores whether AI could expand workers’ knowledge base or simply stunt critical thinking. Meanwhile, CNN cites the field of radiology as an ideal case study for AI/human collaboration.
Dr. Png and coauthor Pinchuan Ong, an assistant professor at NUS Business School, assert that deskilling technology makes jobs accessible to a broader group of people. “Put simply, it creates jobs.”
Between July and August 2024, Drs. Png and Ong conducted vignette experiments and lab-in-the-field experiments with participants who worked as ride-hail drivers.
Vignette experiments asked participants to choose between scenarios in which they could or could not use a map app, varying the percentage of commission from their earnings that they had to pay the platform. The researchers quantified the technology’s monetary value based on the gross earnings participants were willing to give up for it.
“Subjects were asked to rate the relative importance of productivity versus amenity in their choices—whether it was more important that they ‘earn faster’ or that the job was ‘less stressful,” the researchers said.
Participants were tested on their geographical knowledge, and they were asked to assess their driving knowledge on a 9-point scale—1 representing “like a driver who just got his/her license” and 9 representing “I do not need the GPS to drive around.” The average was 6.31.
Higher-skilled participants were more likely to accept jobs that didn’t allow the use of a map app, and they were less willing to give up commission. In contrast, less-skilled participants were less likely to accept jobs that did not allow the use of a map app and were willing to give up more commission for access to the technology.
The investigators wanted to see how these results held up in a real-world setting. They recruited 50 drivers for an in-the-field experiment.
On average, drivers self-assessed their knowledge as 6.68 on the same 9-point scale as in the vignette experiment. The researchers stratified drivers into low- and high-skill segments, and then randomly assigned them to groups in which some drivers had access to a map app and some didn’t.
“We asked subjects to pinpoint five locations on a map of Singapore, one of which was the actual destination for the driving task,” Drs. Png and Ong explained. “These questions helped ensure that, during the driving task, the driver would put in a good faith effort to reach the destination rather than take it easy, as the payment would be the same whether or not they completed the task.”
The research team briefed each driver on their randomly assigned task, explaining the pay they’d receive and whether they’d be allowed access to the app.
And then they strapped on heart rate monitors.
“To complement the physiological (heart rate) data, we applied a short version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), a broadly used measure of stress as perceived by the subject,” the investigators explained. “To avoid confounding the treatment, subjects were kept unaware of other groups and destinations.”
Baseline stress varied among the workers, but both STAI scores and heart rate data—lowered heart rates correlated with lowered stress—suggested that participants who could use the app during their drives were less stressed than those who couldn’t.
The study demonstrated that navigation technology empowered drivers with little or poor geographical knowledge to work in personal transportation, Dr, Png said. “To quote one driver, ‘Without the map app, I simply could not do the job.’”
Strategically, adding deskilling technology to make jobs more accessible can give businesses a more robust labor supply, the researchers emphasized. “Businesses in aging societies face labor shortages,” Dr. Png said. “They should think strategically about technology as a way to expand labor supply, not just as a way to replace workers.”
