“Accelerator” versus “Ceiling”: Unpacking the Career Paradoxes of Employee-Robot Cowork and their Impact on Career Sustainability

The complex paradoxical impact of integrating service robots into frontline service work on employee career sustainability is frequently overlooked. Employing an inductive qualitative method, this study draws on in-depth interviews with 11 frontline service employees in the Chinese hotel industry to uncover and theorize the core career paradoxes inherent in employee-robot cowork and the mechanisms through which they shape career sustainability. Findings reveal that robots simultaneously enact dual roles, acting as both career “accelerators” and “ceilings.” This duality manifests in four interwoven core career paradoxes: (1) immediate convenience versus long-term capability constraints; (2) selective efficiency versus situational failure and the imposition of new burdens; (3) task relief versus potential career threats; and (4) instrumental dependence versus interactional absence. These paradoxes interact such that the pursuit of short-term convenience can inadvertently lead to long-term skill suppression, heightened job insecurity, and constrained potential for human-robot cowork, thereby exerting a complex influence on career sustainability. This study introduces the construction of the “employee-robot cowork career paradox,” challenging simplistic assumptions about technology's impact and contributing paradox and long-term perspectives to research on career sustainability and human-robot interaction (HRI). Our findings suggest that managers must look beyond the “efficiency myth, “ directly confront these inherent paradoxes, and strategically design both empowering robots and service work configurations to foster career sustainability.