Actors’ losses and mourning in digitalization: the case of checkout automation in Swiss distribution

Abstract

This research examines digital change under the conceptual lens of mourning and loss, in order to understand the reactions of organizational members. It consists of a double case study of two leading Swiss retailers that have implemented self-service technologies with a body of 8 interviews with managers, 12 interviews with cashiers and 75 interviews with customers. By mobilizing the conceptual framework of mourning, this research identifies different categories of losses perceived by the three groups of actors: while managers mainly conceive digital change from the perspective of productivity gains, employees and customers express symbolic losses likely to trigger mourning processes. That is, losses of professional identity and of professional landmarks, losses of relationships and of quality of interaction, as well as losses of meaning related to the transformation of ‘modernized’ and ‘rationalized’ Swiss distribution cooperatives and to the quality of the bond involved in commercial exchange. This perspective offers a better understanding of what digital change means for different categories of actors. By integrating clients as “partial employees”, we identify the specific challenges of this category of actors in digital change. On the basis of our analysis, we can recommend a more systematic integration of external organizational actors – such as customers – in sensemaking processes associated with digital change.