What the Digital Age Is and Means for Workers, Services, and Emotions Scholars and Practitioners

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to introduce readers to the basic concepts and terminologies associated with the digital age, give examples of how customer service and services generally are changing as a result of digitalization, describe how emotions are being captured and used in digital communications, illustrate how people are using digital means to manage their own and workers' emotions and well-being, consider how the digital age is changing the future of services, workers, and communication between customers and organizations, and discuss some of the implications for emotions scholars and practitioners.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A literature review of recent publications on the digital age and its implications for services, work, workers, and emotions research and management.

Findings – The review covers seven areas: (1) What the digital age/economy/world is, (2) how customer service (including self-service) and services generally have changed as a result of digitalization, (3) how emotions are captured and used in social robots and digital communications, e.g., emoticons, (4) how people are using digital means (e.g., “self-tracking” and “wearables”) to manage their own emotions/feelings/well-being, (5) what some of the implications of the digital era are for emotions scholars and practitioners including methodology, (6) how people are saying the digital age will change the future of work, workers, relationships between customers and organizations, and learning, and (7) the ethical and well-being imperatives that researchers, practitioners, governments, and businesses must proactively and responsibly meet.

Practical Implications – Practically, the chapter provides information useful to five types of readers: (1) those who have emerging digital literacy or who consider themselves to be low digital natives, (2) those who are interested in understanding how customer service and services are changing because of digitalization, (3) those interested in understanding ways in which Artificial intelligence and digital tools are being used to capture and manage emotions, (4) those interested in learning how work is changing because of Industry 4.0, and (5) emotions scholars and practitioners interested in the implications of the digital world for their research and practice.

Citation

Härtel, J.C.R. and Härtel, C.E.J. (2020), "What the Digital Age Is and Means for Workers, Services, and Emotions Scholars and Practitioners", Härtel, C.E.J., Zerbe, W.J. and Ashkanasy, N.M. (Ed.) Emotions and Service in the Digital Age (Research on Emotion in Organizations, Vol. 16), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1746-979120200000016003