Smart wearables as friends or foes? Engaging boundary spanning employees along smart journeys

Organizations increasingly implement smart technologies in their service system to support frontline employees. However, organizations face the challenge of integrating these smart technologies into their frontline employees’ practices while keeping them engaged along their smart journey – that is, a series of interactions with the smart technology throughout its implementation in the smart service system. Although extant research studies customer engagement with smart technology as a momentary state, little is known about the evolution of the engagement of frontline employees as unique boundary spanners in smart service systems. Therefore, this research investigates how frontline employees’ engagement unfolds along smart journeys, thereby paying attention to their boundary-spanning practices. Ethnographically studying a healthcare organization that is implementing smart glasses for over more than a year, allowed us to reveal how some frontline employees engage with smart technologies as friends or foes forever whilst others engage with them in more dynamic manners over time. As a result, various smart journeys emerge. Frontline employees’ engagement along these journeys depends upon their perceived (mis)fit of the smart technology with their boundary-spanning practices (i.e., organizational, professional and customer practices). Overall, practitioners should facilitate a fit of the smart technology with frontline employees’ boundary-spanning practices to boost their engagement along smart journeys.Organizations increasingly implement smart technologies in their service system to support frontline employees. However, organizations face the challenge of integrating these smart technologies into their frontline employees’ practices while keeping them engaged along their smart journey – that is, a series of interactions with the smart technology throughout its implementation in the smart service system. Although extant research studies customer engagement with smart technology as a momentary state, little is known about the evolution of the engagement of frontline employees as unique boundary spanners in smart service systems. Therefore, this research investigates how frontline employees’ engagement unfolds along smart journeys, thereby paying attention to their boundary-spanning practices. Ethnographically studying a healthcare organization that is implementing smart glasses for over more than a year, allowed us to reveal how some frontline employees engage with smart technologies as friends or foes forever whilst others engage with them in more dynamic manners over time. As a result, various smart journeys emerge. Frontline employees’ engagement along these journeys depends upon their perceived (mis)fit of the smart technology with their boundary-spanning practices (i.e., organizational, professional and customer practices). Overall, practitioners should facilitate a fit of the smart technology with frontline employees’ boundary-spanning practices to boost their engagement along smart journeys.C