A Commentary on Wolf and Stock-Homburg (2025): Robot-Managers and Emergent Human Capital Resources

This commentary examines Wolf and Stock-Homburg’s (2025) timely study on robotic management through the lens of human capital resource (HCR) theory. This perspective holds that human capital is more than an individual trait; it is a collective, unit-level resource that emerges through organizational and social processes. HCR theory thus shifts the focus beyond the dyadic dynamics of individual-level acceptance of robot-managers. In particular, I explore three specific dimensions of robotic management: (1) how robot-managers may influence the behavioral, cognitive, and affective processes that drive HCR emergence; (2) how robot-managers may shape the relational dynamics crucial for HCR emergence; and (3) how substituting entry-level managers with robots may disrupt the firm’s managerial HCR developmental pipeline. These insights reframe the challenge of deploying robot-managers in subtle but important ways by bringing into sharp focus the collective-level implications of their use in organizations. Ultimately, effective and relational robotic management is not simply about short-term employee acceptance: robot-managers will reshape how HCRs emerge and create value in the (coming) age of intelligent machines.