No stone left unturned? Towards a framework on the impact of datafication technologies on organizational control

The goal of this paper is to develop an empirically grounded framework to analyze how new tech-nologies, particularly those used in the realm of datafication, alter or expand traditional organiza-tional control configurations. New technologies for data gathering, analysis, interpretation and learning are increasingly applied in the workplace. Yet, detailed insight about the effects of these technologies on traditional control is lacking. To convey a better understanding about new tech-nologies in employee management and control, we employ a three-step exploratory multi-method morphological analysis. In step 1, we develop a first framework based on 26 semi-structured inter-views with technological experts. In step 2, we refine and redefine the framework in four work-shops conducted with scholars specialized in topics that have emerged in the first step. In step 3, we evaluate and validate the framework with potential and actual users of new technology control configurations. Our refined and validated “New Technology Control Configurations” (NTCC) framework comprises eleven technology control dimensions and thirty-six technology control ele-ments offering first insights into how new technologies in the digital age may change our under-standing of traditional control configurations.