Strategic Information: A Qualitative Study on the Use of Digital Curriculum Vitae for Social Work with Vulnerable Clients

This study investigates the use of the digital curriculum vitae (CV), a digital information system, in social work with vulnerable clients. The investigation takes the constructionist grounded theory approach to examine twenty-one open-ended qualitative interviews with social workers in Danish job centres. Social workers use digital CVs in three ways. First, they collect detailed information about their clients through a digital CV, which tests their vulnerable positions. Second, social workers can use the information collected in the digital CV to reveal skills and resources that clients do not value and rework the attitudes of clients towards the labour market. Third, social workers who work with the most vulnerable clients avoid and adapt digital CV usage to benefit their clients and thus resist prescribed procedures. Overall, the use of digital CVs depends on the perceived vulnerability of the clients. The current study shows that social workers collect and strategically employ digitally stored information to help their clients. Hence, they may risk overlooking the complexity of social issues or compromising the transparency of social work. The study demonstrates that the digitalisation of public service makes social work strategic in response to socially and technologically constraining welfare situations. This study explores how social workers use the digital curriculum vitae (CV) in case meetings with vulnerable clients. The investigation is grounded in twebty-one qualitative interviews with social workers in Danish job centres. The study's findings describe three ways in which social workers use digital CVs. First, social workers use the CV to collect information about the occupational history of their clients that tests and confirms their vulnerable positions. Second, they use the CV to reveal skills, competencies and opportunities that clients do not value. Social workers use this information to rework their clients' attitudes towards the labour market. These clients are often less vulnerable. Finally, the CV is also used to support and help the most vulnerable clients by avoiding and adapting digital CV usage. Thus, social workers resist the established rules and procedures to benefit their clients. The study also shows that digital CV usage depends on the vulnerability of clients. Digital CV use represents a balancing act of strategically collecting and employing information to help discrete clients at the risk of overlooking social issues or compromising the transparency of social work. The study's findings highlight how digitalisation can make social work strategic.