From Automation to Augmentation: A Framework for Designing Human-Centric Work Environments in Society 5.0

📅 2026-04-01
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🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the absence of an actionable and measurable human-centric framework for integrating AI technologies in enterprises, which hinders the evaluation and optimization of human–AI collaboration. It endogenizes human–AI augmentation as a joint function φ(D, W) of technology deployment (D) and five-dimensional workplace design (W), and for the first time demonstrates that human-centric design maximizes profitability once cognitive capital exceeds a critical threshold. Drawing on a PRISMA-guided systematic review, multiple regression analyses, and theory-driven scale development, and leveraging a large-scale manufacturing dataset from Colombia’s EDIT initiative, the research empirically shows that high-quality management practices significantly amplify returns on technology investment (interaction coefficient = 0.304, p < 0.01). It identifies decision authority allocation as a key constraint and task orchestration as the weakest dimension, culminating in the WADI diagnostic tool—a 36-item instrument—and a human-centric workplace design framework aligned with Society 5.0.

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📝 Abstract
Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 call for human-centric technology integration, yet the concept lacks an operational definition that can be measured, optimized, or evaluated at the firm level. This paper addresses three gaps. First, existing models of human-AI complementarity treat the augmentation function phi(D) as exogenous -- dependent only on the stock of AI deployed -- ignoring that two firms with identical technology investments achieve radically different augmentation outcomes depending on how the workplace is organized around the human-AI interaction. Second, no multi-dimensional instrument exists linking workplace design choices to augmentation productivity. Third, the Society 5.0 literature proposes human-centricity as a normative aspiration but provides no formal criterion for when it is economically optimal. We make four contributions. (1) We endogenize the augmentation function as phi(D, W), where W is a five-dimensional workplace design vector -- AI interface design, decision authority allocation, task orchestration, learning loop architecture, and psychosocial work environment -- and prove that human-centric design is profit-maximizing when the workforce's augmentable cognitive capital exceeds a critical threshold. (2) We conduct a PRISMA-guided systematic review of 120 papers (screened from 6,096 records) to map the evidence base for each dimension. (3) We provide secondary empirical evidence from Colombia's EDIT manufacturing survey (N=6,799 firms) showing that management practice quality amplifies the return to technology investment (interaction coefficient 0.304, p<0.01). (4) We propose the Workplace Augmentation Design Index (WADI), a 36-item theory-grounded instrument for diagnosing human-centricity at the firm level. Decision authority allocation emerges as the binding constraint for Society 5.0 transitions, and task orchestration as the most under-researched dimension
Problem

Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.

human-centricity
augmentation
workplace design
Society 5.0
human-AI complementarity
Innovation

Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.

human-AI augmentation
workplace design
Society 5.0
endogenous augmentation function
Workplace Augmentation Design Index (WADI)
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Cristian Espinal Maya
Department of Economics, Universidad EAFIT, Medellín, Colombia; Postgraduate Division, ESUMER