Inside the service work ecosystem: a lived account of young workers

Purpose Existing service work ecosystem research primarily examines how systems are structured and managed, offering limited insight into how they are experienced by workers. This study addresses that gap by providing the first empirical, worker-centered account of how the service work ecosystem is lived, interpreted and navigated from within. Design/methodology/approach Five Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) workshops were conducted with 80 participants aged 18–26, all with frontline service experience and originating from Global South contexts (Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos). Visual, narrative and observational data were analyzed using an abductive, iterative approach, examining participants' interpretations and recurring visual patterns alongside transcripts, with Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) as a sensitizing lens. Findings Findings reveal a systemic pattern of constraint rather than opportunity. Work is experienced not as a pathway to mobility, but as a site where all three PWT needs (survival, social connection, self-determination) are persistently compromised through macro-level forces, organizational practices and relational dynamics. Pursuing self-determination carries a moral cost, conceptualized here as the guilt of aspiration. Navigating these conditions is itself invisible, uncompensated labor that depletes the very resources on which service quality depends. Originality/value Findings reveal a systemic pattern of constraint rather than opportunity. Work is experienced not as a pathway to mobility, but as a site where all three PWT needs (survival, social connection, self-determination) are persistently compromised through macro-level forces, organizational practices and relational dynamics. Pursuing self-determination carries a moral cost, conceptualized here as the guilt of aspiration. Navigating these conditions is itself invisible, uncompensated labor that depletes the very resources on which service quality depends.