A technology-people-integrated toolkit for retail care management during a crisis

ABSTRACT

Mental volatilities are seen to be on the rise when it comes to retail employees and consumers. Specifically, in times of crisis there is a need to be able to customise care management in a way that is coherent and comprehensive to address mental volatility. This customisation is sought in technology and people. However, thus far there is no toolkit for a specific crisis-sensitive care management protocol. We, therefore, build on an ADO framework-based, illustrative case study of three UK retailers wherein we derive and exemplify how mental burnout in a volatile environment becomes a very important care management necessity which has been neglected thus far. Further, we detail how to contend with this need and how there is a demand for customisation, comprehensiveness, and consistency. In this respect, we conceptualise a technology-people-integrated toolkit that can be implemented with immediate effect for retail care management. We detail the practicalities work in two scenarios. To conclude, managerial and theoretical implications of this toolkit and study have been detailed along with the paper's limitations and suggestions for future research. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd