An introduction to the research agenda for workplace innovation

Today, we are inundated and faced with a flood of disruptive transitions, such as the COVID-19 crisis, the Russia/Ukraine war in Europe, environmental change and energy transition, and the ongoing digital transformation in organisations. The rhetoric of Industry 4.0 has strongly influenced the discussion about work. Digital transformation would change the content of work and, according to some, abolish paid work as we know it (Frey and Osborne, 2017). However, the Industry 4.0 Era is pivoting into the Industry 5.0 Era, with new perspectives on how technologies such as artificial intelligence (Tsai et al., 2022) impact the future of work. The COVID-19 crisis has fuelled uncertainty for the global economy with a massive loss of businesses and jobs, aside from the loss of lives. Governments worldwide have launched – and continue to do so – long periods of ‘lockdowns’, the closing of business, and limited human mobility. These interventions have significantly impacted the way we see and feel about how we function as individuals, work, and experience our freedom and new norms. The Russia/Ukraine war in Europe, which is impacting on global markets, is making us understand what our values are, how fragile our practices are, and what it means to be able to speak out...