Service Workers Emotional Experiences of Autonomy and Control in their Relationship to Mobile Technologies

Our paper explores how inanimate objects relate to emotions of autonomy and control, by
studying relationships workers develop with communication and information technologies
(CIT) in two different knowledge-intensive service firms. Drawing on psychoanalytic objectrelations
theory, we develop an alternative approach to emotions by suggesting that workers
build inner representations of important agents, which form the basis of bi-directional
relationship experiences. Methodologically, our paper presents ego-map interviews as a
means to illustrate the character and intensity of these relationships. Our empirical findings
indicate that expectations of co-workers towards CIT are internalized, and consequently
influence workers‘ feelings of being controlled through CIT. Drawing on Winnicott, we argue
that CIT may be understood as «transitional objects», through which workers attempt to
reduce psychological pressures that result from the internalized expectation to constantly
perform and be «turned on».