Technology-facilitated client violence in Finnish social services: A street-level bureaucracy perspective

Abstract Client violence remains a challenge in social services, yet the implications of digitalization for violence have received limited scholarly attention. Drawing on street-level bureaucracy and insights from a public service ecosystem perspective, this study examines how technology-facilitated client violence (TFCV) emerges in everyday street-level discretionary work and how professional discretion is shaped in situations involving TFCV. The analysis draws on qualitative data consisting of open-ended survey responses from street-level professionals (n = 135) and interviews with social care managers (n = 18) in Finland. The findings identify four inter-related empirical dimensions through which TFCV takes form in everyday street-level work—intrusive and on-going contact, public professional discrediting, intimidation and coercion, and technology-facilitated personal harm. These dynamics shape discretionary practice by reconfiguring the temporal organization of work, challenging professional authority and legitimacy, exerting moral and coercive pressure on decision-making, and blurring the boundaries between professional and private life. The reshaping of professional discretion across micro-, meso-, and macro-level conditions is examined. The findings highlight TFCV as a new form of external control shaping discretionary practice and underscore the need for organizational and regulatory responses that safeguard street-level work while preserving clients’ legitimate rights.