Exploring the Chemistry of Datafication Control: Pathways for a Trust-Enabling Use of Smart Workplace Technology

Organizations experiment with how smart technology can be used to manage employees since before COVID-19 and the possibilities seem almost limitless. However, the question of how this can be achieved without impairing the so-needed trust inside organizations is yet to answer. Hence, in this study, we employ a crisp-set QCA to investigate what trust-enabling datafication control configurations look like. Drawing on unique survey data from Switzerland, we show that datafication control can go hand in hand with trust if organizations make efforts for employee-centricity. Further, we can reveal four distinct ways of how organizations can implement employee-centricity to mitigate possible trust-impairing signals that stem from augmented data-gathering and analysis capabilities. Our results contribute to the still heated debate on the duality of control and trust. They also help leaders to navigate through the unmanageable multitude of possible and even trust-toxic combinations.