When Work Goes Digital : A Socio-Technical Perspective on Occupational Well-Being and Digitalization in the Public Sector
Abstract
As digitalization continues to transform work in the public sector, there is a growing need to understand its consequences for employees’ occupational well-being and how these consequences are managed within organizations. This thesis examines digitalization from a socio-technical perspective, focusing on employees’ occupational well-being, managers integration of occupational health and safety management (OHSM) into digitalization processes, and conditions that facilitate or constrain this integration. The thesis comprises one scoping review and four qualitative studies in two Swedish municipalities. Participants included employees, health and safety representatives, managers, HR professionals, and strategists. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and digital diaries using inductive and deductive qualitative analyses. The findings show that occupational well-being was influenced by the interplay between digital technologies, everyday work, and organizational conditions. Collegial interaction and local problem-solving emerged as important resources, but could not compensate for insufficient time, staffing, or organizational support. Digitalization appeared more demanding when restructuring and reduced staffing preceded reliable digital systems. Differences in OHSM integration appeared to be more closely related to managerial practices in digitalization processes than to broader organizational conditions. By conceptualizing digital transformation as an ongoing socio-technical transformation, the thesis contributes to an understanding of how digitalization, OHSM, and occupational well-being can be understood as interrelated and evolving over time. Combining a socio-technical perspective with gain and loss cycles from JD-R theory, provides a way of interpreting how changes in demands and resources may indicate different directions of this transformation, and their potential implications for occupational well-being and a sustainable working life.