Technological frames of reference and conceptions of workers’ agency: A new framework from UK warehousing

This article explores the diverse assumptions and priorities that managers and technology developers assign to workplace technologies in UK warehousing. Rooted in labour process theory (LPT), and its concern for worker agency and management control, it addresses a need for finer-grained theorisations of management and developer agency in shaping technological development and implementation. Synthesising LPT with literature on ‘technological frames of reference,’ it proposes a new theoretical framework for distinguishing contrasting perspectives on technology, identifying variation in terms of: (1) organisational priorities, (2) conceptions of workers' agency and (3) technological priorities. The article applies this theoretical framework to a qualitative study of warehousing, using it to generate a threefold taxonomy of frames found in the industry: ‘human fallibility’; ‘logistical puzzle-solving’; and ‘workers as beneficiaries.’ It argues that these analytical tools can expand sociological understanding of variation in industry actors' thinking about workplace technologies, and how they conceive of workers' agency in relation to technological deployment.