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Corporate smart phones: professionals' conscious engagement in escalating work connectivity
Author(s) -
Cavazotte Flávia,
Heloisa Lemos Ana,
Villadsen Kaspar
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
new technology, work and employment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.889
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1468-005X
pISSN - 0268-1072
DOI - 10.1111/ntwe.12022
Subject(s) - autonomy , flexibility (engineering) , phone , smart phone , work (physics) , narrative , public relations , business , internet privacy , computer science , engineering , political science , management , telecommunications , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , law , economics
This article explores how the adoption of company sponsored smart phones inflicts upon the lives of professionals. Drawing upon qualitative interviews at a law firm in B razil, the experiences of new smart phone users are reported upon in detail. Increased accessibility, accuracy and speed in exchanges gave the users a sense of autonomy and flexibility. However, the technology also helped to intensify the organisation's hold on employees outside of regular working hours, reaching into new settings, time slots and social contexts. Employees expressed concerns regarding demands from superiors that negatively affected their private spheres, yet many of them paradoxically requested more efficient smart phone connectivity. The article focuses on the justifications, the different narrative strategies, employed by professionals for their conscious engagement in escalating work connectivity. It is suggested that these justifications display users' attempt to ‘dis‐identify’ with the role and practice they perform.