Critiques of the way workforces were managed in capitalist market economies throughout the 20th century exist but are not necessarily relevant to emergent industries. In the digital age, new economic sectors have proliferated. These are often associated with distinctive labor management practices. A case in point is the telecommunications retail sector—shopping mall outlets where salespeople sell smartphones and associated contracts. In such outlets, it is difficult for consumers to accurately assess their needs and make informed choices, a phenomenon sometime described as confusopoly. This study provides evidence that confusopoly not only characterizes the relationship between customers and firms in the retail telecommunications industry but is also a construct that aptly applies to the employment relationship existing between vendors and their employer. Five themes supporting this conclusion are presented which draw on the results obtained from two focus-groups conducted with Canadian telco vendors in the summer of 2020.

对整个 20 世纪资本主义市场经济中劳动力管理方式的批评存在，但不一定与新兴产业相关。在数字时代，新的经济部门激增。这些通常与独特的劳动管理实践有关。一个典型的例子是电信零售业——销售人员销售智能手机和相关合同的购物中心网点。在这样的商店里，消费者很难准确评估他们的需求并做出明智的选择，这种现象有时被称为混淆垄断。这项研究提供了混淆垄断的证据不仅表征了零售电信行业中客户与公司之间的关系，而且还是一种适用于供应商与其雇主之间存在的雇佣关系的结构。提出了支持这一结论的五个主题，这些主题借鉴了 2020 年夏季与加拿大电信供应商进行的两个焦点小组的结果。