The boon and bane of being inert. The case of craft digitalization
Type
conference contribution
Date Issued
2025-03-28
Author(s)
Abstract
Digitalization is a grand vision as much as it is an opportunity for the improvement of profane
daily tasks, but the discourse on digitalization is biased. Much attention is paid to the grand
visions in sectors in which digitalization tends to replace hitherto established modes of
information gathering and data processing, emphasizing the revolutionary character of
digitalization which requires a reorganization from the scratch. Platform economies and
finance serve as model cases in this context. Less attention, by contrast, is paid to sectors
where digitalization unfolds less dramatically and in the background of public discourse and
most research. Examples are agriculture and crafts. In these sectors digitalization can also
have significant effects, but they have remained rather unnoticed thus far.
With an empirical focus on small crafts, we focus on the ‘less dramatic’ side of digitalization.
Two questions are of particular interest: first, how is the talk about digitalization, i.e., its
staging, related to the way firms actually handle digitalization in their daily work processes of
production and pre- and post-production? Second, to what extent can technological and
organizational contingencies explain specific modes of integrating digitalization? In sum, we
ask how small craft businesses react to the challenge of digitalization. Our focus is on how
they employ digital technologies in their everyday practices and to what extent they utilize
digitalization for presenting themselves to customers and other stakeholders.
Based on case studies we find that craft businesses utilize digitalization but they do so
pragmatically and with less profound impact on the organization of work processes.
Oftentimes, they draw on single digital communication tools (social media, mobile phones
and message systems) to be in touch with suppliers, producers or consumers, i.e. they utilize
digitalization a means for collaboration. Only in few cases we found that craft firms have
implemented digital technologies such as CNC milling machines or laser cutters (e.g., in
carpentry) or write technical sheets and draw digital patterns which can easy be distributed
(e.g., in garment making). Thus, generally, our data reveals that the core of production has
remained largely untouched. The craft tools of carpenters, seamstresses or ceramists, for
example, have remained close to pre-industrial times. Overall, most of these workshops look
unchanged even though CNC milling mills or sewing machines nowadays are equipped with
digital displays.
daily tasks, but the discourse on digitalization is biased. Much attention is paid to the grand
visions in sectors in which digitalization tends to replace hitherto established modes of
information gathering and data processing, emphasizing the revolutionary character of
digitalization which requires a reorganization from the scratch. Platform economies and
finance serve as model cases in this context. Less attention, by contrast, is paid to sectors
where digitalization unfolds less dramatically and in the background of public discourse and
most research. Examples are agriculture and crafts. In these sectors digitalization can also
have significant effects, but they have remained rather unnoticed thus far.
With an empirical focus on small crafts, we focus on the ‘less dramatic’ side of digitalization.
Two questions are of particular interest: first, how is the talk about digitalization, i.e., its
staging, related to the way firms actually handle digitalization in their daily work processes of
production and pre- and post-production? Second, to what extent can technological and
organizational contingencies explain specific modes of integrating digitalization? In sum, we
ask how small craft businesses react to the challenge of digitalization. Our focus is on how
they employ digital technologies in their everyday practices and to what extent they utilize
digitalization for presenting themselves to customers and other stakeholders.
Based on case studies we find that craft businesses utilize digitalization but they do so
pragmatically and with less profound impact on the organization of work processes.
Oftentimes, they draw on single digital communication tools (social media, mobile phones
and message systems) to be in touch with suppliers, producers or consumers, i.e. they utilize
digitalization a means for collaboration. Only in few cases we found that craft firms have
implemented digital technologies such as CNC milling machines or laser cutters (e.g., in
carpentry) or write technical sheets and draw digital patterns which can easy be distributed
(e.g., in garment making). Thus, generally, our data reveals that the core of production has
remained largely untouched. The craft tools of carpenters, seamstresses or ceramists, for
example, have remained close to pre-industrial times. Overall, most of these workshops look
unchanged even though CNC milling mills or sewing machines nowadays are equipped with
digital displays.
Language
English
Event Title
International Conference on Organizational Sociology, 2025, “Organizing Plurality”
Event Location
Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany
Event Date
27/28.3.2025