Contemporary service encounters increasingly occur in phygital environments, where physical and digital merge, blurring traditional boundaries and redefining human roles at the service frontline. In these hybrid settings, the technical subsystem (digital interfaces) and the social subsystem (human actors) become inextricably intertwined. Yet, many organizations continue to manage Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EMX) in functional and ontological silos. This disconnected approach, treating the frontstage and backstage as parallel tracks rather than a single system, leads to phygital gaps, where technical efficiency is achieved at the expense of human connection and system resilience.

This thesis builds on five appended papers that collectively develop a framework for phygital congruence. The research journey moves from establishing the technical micro-architecture of the frontstage (TCQ) to investigating the social mechanisms of the backstage (EMX). Through a multi-methodological approach, including conceptual development, field observations in unmanned retail, and experimental testing of automated touchpoints, the research identifies the generative mechanisms required to bridge the ontological divide between marketing-driven CX and HR-driven EMX.

The thesis contributes to the service literature by integrating these isolated domains through a Socio-Technical Systems (STS) lens, guided by a Human Experience (HX) normative compass. It yields a unified theoretical perspective where phygital congruence is defined as the state of joint optimization: where the designed qualities of the technical frontstage are perfectly synchronized with the organizational resources of the social backstage. Within this framework, human well-being is established not merely as a secondary outcome, but as a structural necessity for a sustainable service system. For practitioners, it offers actionable governance tools, such as Phygital Gap Analysis, to transition from brittle, automated interactions to coherent, human-centric service journeys.

Why do so many automated service encounters feel "hollow" or "brittle"? The answer lies in the gap between the digital interface and the human beings who support it. Contemporary service research has long treated marketing-driven customer experience and HR-driven employee experience as parallel tracks. This thesis argues they are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. By introducing the concept of phygital congruence, this work offers a unified perspective on how to align technical micro-architectures with organizational social resources.

The thesis challenges the traditional separation of the "frontstage" and "backstage." By applying a socio-technical systems lens to five years of research, ranging from field studies in unmanned retail to experimental robotics, it develops a new framework for bridging the ontological divides of the phygital environment. The research argues that a high-tech service system is only as strong as its social subsystem. By positioning human well-being not merely as a desirable outcome, but as a structural necessity, this work provides a roadmap for a more sustainable, human-centric service economy. Ultimately, this thesis validates a core truth for the digital age: the customer's experience can never consistently exceed the reality of the employee.