WHEN DIGITAL SYSTEMS CONSTRAIN SERVICE: HOW EMPLOYEES CRAFT CUSTOMER-CENTRIC WORK

This study explores the evolution of customer-centricity in Indonesia's rapidly evolving digital service sector, where frontline staff often face tension between rigid algorithmic controls and urgent customer demands. In Jakarta's high-pressure service environment, employees often face a conflict between meeting performance indicators and delivering the relational service expected in Southeast Asian cultures. By synthesizing the psychological safety framework with contemporary digital work theory, this study examines how psychological safety fosters pro-customer rule-breaking as a form of adaptive service. Data were collected from 400 service employees working in digitally mediated environments and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results indicate that psychological safety significantly fosters discretionary behavior that prioritizes customer needs, even when these actions deviate from formal procedures. In addition, digital job crafting also plays a mediating role, enabling employees to adapt how they perform tasks within system constraints. These findings demonstrate a key distinction from many Western models that emphasize standardization and adherence to strict processes. In the Indonesian context, service effectiveness is closely tied to employees' ability to understand rules while maintaining social harmony and responsiveness. In high-context Southeast Asian markets, successful digital service management depends not only on technological efficiency but also granting employees the flexibility to interpret and adapt their roles in real time.