Data Work on the Ground: Matching Data Work Requirements and Professional Matters of Concern

In this paper, we explore the role of data work in the digital age—the situated practices workers engage in to produce data. Existing studies point out that data affects organizational life tremendously, but we know little about how frontline workers balance data work requirements with professional matters of concern. Yet, gaining this understanding is essential as producing data on the frontline is the foundation of the data-driven organization. We conducted a four-year qualitative study of a large-scale data initiative in a Danish local government eldercare department requiring new documentation practices and massive data work among frontline workers. Our analysis reveals a tension between the new requirements for digital documentation and frontline workers’ values and norms. We identified five relational strategies—supplementing, tinkering, postponing, complying, and aligning—to match data work requirements and professional matters of concern. We contribute to the emerging literature on data work by unpacking and conceptualizing how frontline workers apply relational strategies and discuss if—and how—this may challenge the objectives of creating a data-driven organization.