Can i help you?: Towards the improvement of occupational experience for convenience store employees in Taiwan

Abstract

This article explores the occupational experiences of convenience store frontline service employees in Taiwan. We find that in addition to physical labor, employees must incorporate job crafting to effectively meet customers' assumptions and expectations for immediate and efficient services, and to manage many types of in-store contingencies. We consider the infusion of job crafting into frontline service work to be critical to the smooth operation of the overall convenience store service experience. However, these skills are largely considered to be 'invisible,' and are not adequately supported by the convenience store work context. We suggest that certain types of smart devices be incorporated both seamfully and seamlessly into the convenience store environment, to work in tandem with, and to support frontline service employees. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.