The human side of retail resilience: Exploring employee well-being as a driver of human-centric innovation

Abstract

This interpretivist qualitative study examines how frontline retail employees experience and shape innovation in a rapidly evolving industry, addressing the underexplored behavioral health foundations of retail transformation. Drawing on 40 interviews, ethnographic observations, and organizational documents across supermarkets, fashion outlets, and logistics hubs, the study uses thematic analysis to identify four key processes. First, employees experience innovation ambivalently, as both a stressor (e.g., job insecurity, emotional labor, overload) and a challenge that enables coping, skill development, and expanded roles. Second, well-being – supported by managerial practices, psychological safety, and fair conditions – functions as a critical resource that facilitates experimentation and adaptation. Third, employees enact micro-innovations in daily work (e.g., service improvizations, operational workarounds) to manage demands, protect well-being, and maintain service quality. Fourth, well-being-supportive climates foster trust and perceived organizational support, strengthening resilience and sustained engagement during disruption. Integrating the Job Demands–Resources model, psychological safety, and service-dominant logic, the study positions frontline employees as active co-creators of human-centric innovation, highlighting the central role of behavioral health in sustaining long-term innovation capacity.