When Caring and Surveillance Technology Meet

Abstract

There is an important research gap regarding how the service triangle in care work is affected by the use of surveillance technology. This article addresses this gap by reporting quantitative and qualitative research undertaken in three U.K. local government home care organizations. Through regression analysis, it is found that discretionary effort is positively related, and organizational commitment negatively related, to information technology as a controlling force and management hindering the delivery of client services. The qualitative research triangulates these findings and offers complementarity by showing that workers continued to give discretionary effort in order to maintain the delivery of meaningful care to clients, even as they lowered their commitment to the organization. The conclusion draws out the implications of these findings for understanding of the social relations of the service triangle in contemporary society.