Beyond Traditional Fieldwork – Digital Ethnography’s Role in Understanding Modern Work(places)

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Introduction

This special issue explores the evolving role of ethnography in organization and management studies, focusing particularly on its application in workplace research. Originating from anthropology and gaining prominence through the Malinowskian paradigm of the 1930s, ethnography combines fieldwork with ethnographic writing (Clifford, 1986; Hirsch & Gellner, 2001). It has evolved to address the complexities of modern organizational environments, including digital and hybrid workplaces (Luff & Heath, 2019; Ritter, 2021). Initially used by psychologists and sociologists in the early 20th century, organizational ethnography now delves into work-life experiences, workplace cultures, and power dynamics (Zickar & Carter, 2010; Brannan et al., 2007). The digital era, marked by global pandemics and technological advancements, has catalyzed the rise of digital ethnography or 'netnography' (Dominguez et al., 2007; Murthy, 2008; Góralska, 2020). This method has been instrumental in understanding remote work dynamics, gender relations, and mental health challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Manzo et al., 2020; Gera & Hasdell, 2021; Watson & Lupton, 2022). That being said, this issue aims to expand discussions on the utility and challenges of digital ethnography in workplace studies. It will cover a range of topics, including the contribution of ethnography to organizational studies, the impact of digital methods on workplace research, issues in ethnographic writing, and the role of ethnography in corporate strategy and intervention. Finally, it will explore new fields and forms in workplace ethnography, such as the use of immersive technologies (i.e., XR), and critique digital approaches in this context.

List of Topic Areas

The promise and pretence of ethnographic methods for organisational studies in general and workplace studies in particular, for example: 

• The potential contribution of ethnographic studies to the multidisciplinary field of organisational studies 
• The potential of ethnographic methods for promoting reflexivity among managers and for making visible institutional logics, tacit knowledge, and truth claims 
• The digital turn and its contribution to interpretative methods in workplace studies 

The challenges particular to doing (digital) ethnography in workplaces: 

• Issues of access 
• Fully digital or hybridised settings 
• Organisational power relations; studying "up" the organisation vs. studying "down" 
• The role of experts/specialists and expertise/specialist knowledge 
• The ethnographer as employee 

Workplace ethnography as intervention practice:

• Ethnography as a tool to underpin corporate strategy and/or policy and planning 
• Co-producing knowledge with local stakeholders 
• The ethnographer as a consultant 
• Translating ethnographic research into management strategy 

New fields and new forms of workplace ethnography: 

• New settings, actors, topics (objects, tools, bodies, texts, etc.) 
• Experimental methods 
• New design, data collection, analysis, presentations 
• Implications and challenges for the research process 
• The use of new immersive technology (XR, AR, VR) 

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 01/11/2024