Exploring Employee Experiences of Well-being during Digital Transformation : A Qualitative Interpretive dual perspective Case Study of an Indonesian retail SME

Sammanfattning

As organizations adopt new digital technologies and work practices, also known as Digitally Transforming (DT), research exploring how this phenomenon impacts employee well-being has become of significant interest. This study explores this new topic by investigating how employees experience changes in well-being as a result of DT through a qualitative interpretive case study of an Indonesian retail SME and a thematic analysis of 15 problem-centred employee interviews. This is analyzed through the lens of two theoretical frameworks: TheJob Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The findings highlight how employees experience the initial face of DT through an increase in learning and emotional demands that are accompanied with feelings of confusion, stress and anxiety leading to reduced feelings of competence. However, over time, these demands transform into resources that boost feelings of competence through familiarity, increased efficiency and performance. This does however come with a new form of demands in technological and infrastructure dependence. This demand is shown when the system fails and employees are left feeling frustrated, unable to complete their tasks while in the meantime they have to help with customers or other worktasks. Moreover, DT seems to not simply make social relatedness better or worse, but instead it reconfigures how communication is conducted. Organizational support plays a pivotal role in reducing excess job demands and acts as a buffer. This thesis contributes to the understanding that DT is in addition to a technical organizational process also a social and psychological process that must account for employee wellbeing experiences. The findings conclude that sustaining employee well-being during DT is critical for DT implementation success.