Fynn Ohlrogge - Labor Unions and Firms’ Focus on Digital Technology

This study investigates the role of labor unions in influencing firms’ strategic focus on digital technology. While a growing body of literature explores the causes and consequences of firms’ focus on digital technologies, the literature has not yet focused on the impact of one important stakeholder group: labor unions. We hypothesize that labor unions reduce firms’ focus on digital and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies because unionized firms face higher labor adjustment costs and make fewer IT investments. Using an innovative measure derived from a large language model that quantifies firms’ discussion of digital technology in earnings conference calls, we find that union presence and strength are associated with a lower firm focus on digital and AI initiatives. Our study documents the influence of organized labor on firms’ digital focus, identifying labor unions as an important yet understudied stakeholder in shaping firms’ digital strategy.

Fynn Ohlrogge is an Assistant Professor of Accounting and Information Management at Maastricht University. He joined Maastricht University in 2020 after earning his PhD at the University of Antwerp. Fynn’s work follows two main research streams. First, he studies firms’ disclosure strategies and market participants’ use of information in capital markets. In the second stream, he studies the causes and consequences of firms’ use of digital technology. In 2022, Fynn received a Marie Curie fellowship from the EU to research the effects of firms’ use of artificial intelligence. His research has been published in Accounting, Organizations and Society; Behavioral Research in Accounting; and Public Relations Review. He was a visiting researcher at the Operations, Information and Decisions Department at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and at the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida.