Bridging Work of Intermediaries: A Qualitative Study on how Five Intermediary Firms Implement Interoperability in Cross-Boundary Infrastructures of Consumer Markets

Abstract

Managing private life and household affairs requires considerable work for consumer households, sometimes in cooperation with private companies or public administrations. In their role as consumers/citizens, people must perform work such as monitoring and managing supplies and contracts, comparing and purchasing offers, submitting insurance claims, or renewing passports. While some CSCW studies have examined intra-household coordination work, this study investigates the emerging role of intermediary firms that perform inter-organizational work on behalf of, and driven by, consumers in areas such as finance, insurance, utilities, healthcare, and general administration. Employing qualitative methods, we combined interviews and artifact analysis with five intermediary firms across different sectors and conducted a week-long field study with one of them. In doing so, our study sheds light on intermediaries’ largely hidden role in bridging inter-organizational cooperation in consumer markets. We show to what extent this work involves predominantly human, manual bridging efforts. All five intermediaries face (common) social-level conflicts in their newly formed work arrangements, as well as technical-level conflicts within the infrastructures of the market. We analyzed these conflicts alongside breakdowns they mitigate through coping strategies. Our findings suggest that while some conflicts—whether socially or technically caused—can be resolved by intermediaries, others must be bridged using concepts of ‘adversarial interoperability’ or ‘backward interoperability’. Hence, when designing CSCW systems of organizations interacting with consumers, we should also consider the role of intermediaries, their work practices, and the conflicts identified in this study.