Digital Technologies’ Transformation of US Store-Based Retail Work: Semi-structured Interviews with Workers and Managers, 2022-2023

This dataset consists of interview notes on 63 semi-structured, one-hour interviews of store-based retail employees (frontline workers and managers) in various locations in the USA (with the exception of two in Canada), conducted August 2022 through August 2023. The interviews focus on technological change and how it is affecting the labor process. However, they also inquire about the respondents’ career trajectories, pay history, and aspirations for future mobility; the details of their job functions and how those functions are organized; how labor in the store is supervised; any forms of worker collective action; the respondent’s subjective experience of work and supervision; and significant changes in any of these aspects of work. Respondents were recruited via a commercial online interviewee recruitment platform, User Interviews https://www.userinterviews.com/ . The resulting sample is by no means a representative sample of US store-based retail workers. But we believe it is qualitatively representative of more senior employees at larger-unit grocery and general merchandise stores in the US, with a sprinkling of respondents from other types of stores that offer some limited comparisons.<p>The Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Dig.IT) will establish itself as an essential resource for those wanting to understand how new digital technologies are profoundly reshaping the world of work. Digitalisation is a topical feature of contemporary debate. For evangelists, technology offers new opportunities for those seeking work and increased flexibility and autonomy for those in work. More pessimistic visions, in contrast, see a future where jobs are either destroyed by robots or degraded through increasingly precarious contracts and computerised monitoring. Take Uber as an example: the company claims it is creating opportunities for self-employed entrepreneurs; while workers' groups increasingly challenge such claims through legal means to improve their rights at work.

While such positive and pessimistic scenarios abound of an increasingly fragmented, digitalised and flexible transformation of work across the globe, theoretical understanding of contemporary developments remains underdeveloped and systematic empirical analyses are lacking. We know, for example, that employers and governments are struggling to cope with and understand the pace and consequences of digital change, while individuals face new uncertainties over how to become and stay 'connected' in turbulent labour markets. Yet, we have no real understanding of what it means to be a 'connected worker' in an increasing 'connected' economy. Drawing resources from different academic fields of study, Dig.IT will provide an empirically innovative and international broad body of knowledge that will offer authoritative insights into the impact of digitalisation on the future of work.</p>

本数据集包含2022年8月至2023年8月期间对美国各地（加拿大除外的两例）实体店零售员工（一线员工及管理者）进行的63次半结构化一小时访谈的记录。访谈聚焦于技术变革及其对劳动过程的影响。此外，访谈还涉及受访者的职业轨迹、薪资历史、未来职业流动愿景；工作职能细节及其组织方式；店内劳动监督机制；任何形式的工人集体行动；受访者对工作与监督的主观体验；以及上述各方面的重大变化。受访者通过商业在线受访者招募平台User Interviews（https://www.userinterviews.com/）招募。所得样本绝非美国实体店零售员工的代表性样本，但我们认为其在定性层面上代表了美国大型杂货店及综合商品店的资深员工，同时包含少量来自其他类型店铺的受访者以提供有限对比。<p>数字工作未来研究中心（Digital Futures at Work Research Centre，简称Dig.IT）将成为希望了解新型数字技术如何深刻重塑工作世界的人士的重要资源。数字化（Digitalisation）是当代辩论的热点议题。对技术倡导者而言，技术为求职者提供新机遇，为在职者增加灵活性与自主性。相比之下，更悲观的观点认为未来工作要么被机器人取代，要么因日益不稳定的合同与计算机化监控（Computerised Monitoring）而降级。以Uber为例：该公司声称正在为自雇创业者创造机会；而工人团体则通过法律手段日益挑战此类主张，以改善其工作权利。</p><p>尽管全球范围内关于工作日益碎片化、数字化与灵活化转型的乐观与悲观场景层出不穷，但对当代发展的理论理解尚不完善，系统性实证分析亦较为缺乏。例如，我们知道雇主与政府难以应对和理解数字变革的速度与后果，而个人则面临在动荡劳动力市场中如何成为并保持“互联”的新不确定性。然而，我们尚未真正理解在日益“互联”的经济中成为“互联工作者（Connected Worker）”意味着什么。Dig.IT将整合不同学术领域的资源，提供实证创新且具有国际广度的知识体系，为数字化（Digitalisation）对未来工作的影响提供权威洞见。</p>