scholarly journals Embodied Precariat and Digital Control in the “Gig Economy”: The Mobile Labor of Food Delivery Workers

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Cosmin Popan
Keyword(s):  
Digital Control ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Gig Economy

scholarly journals The Outsourcing of Online Dating: Investigating the Lived Experiences of Online Dating Assistants Working in the Contemporary Gig Economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512095729
Author(s):  
Annisa M. P. Rochadiat ◽  
Stephanie Tom Tong ◽  
Jeffrey T. Hancock ◽  
Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Virtual Organization ◽  
Online Dating ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Cottage Industry ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Remote Employees ◽  
Gig Economy

A small cottage industry emerging within the larger gig economy is online dating assistant (ODA) companies that allow paying clients to outsource the labor associated with online dating, including profile development, date selection and matching, and even interaction (i.e., ODAs assume their clients’ identities to exchange messages with other [unsuspecting] daters to secure face-to-face dates). The newness of this industry presents an opportunity to investigate the lived experience of remote employees working in an up-and-coming virtual organization. Through interviews with six ODAs, we explored motivations, day-to-day workflow, and development of work identities. Analysis uncovered unique challenges ODAs faced when performing the “human-based” tasks of online dating, which differed starkly from other popular services being bought and sold in the gig economy (e.g., rideshare, food delivery). Findings also show how ODAs engage in pragmatic and critical sensemaking as they navigate the specific challenges associated with ODA labor, and those created by remote work and gig labor, more generally.

Major court and tribunal decisions in Australia in 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Landau ◽  
Dominique Allen
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Employment Standards ◽  
Definition Of

The year 2018 saw significant tribunal and court decisions concerning the definition of ‘casual’ for the purposes of the National Employment Standards, the obligations of labour hire employers, and the employment status of food delivery drivers in the gig economy. This review also covers a number of significant changes to awards made by the Fair Work Commission as part of its 4-yearly award review; a Full Federal Court decision about the extent to which a small group of employees genuinely agreed to approve an enterprise agreement. An unusual tribunal decision about an employee who was assumed to have a disability is noted. Finally, the review considers several significant judicial decisions on accessorial liability and penalites under the Fair Work Act.

scholarly journals Algorithmic Surveillance in the Gig Economy: The Organization of Work through Lefebvrian Conceived Space

2020 ◽  
pp. 017084062093790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Newlands
Keyword(s):  
Food Delivery ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Human Observer ◽  
Lived Space ◽  
Human Agent ◽  
Digital Cartography ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Dyadic Process ◽  
Organisational Research ◽  
Workplace Surveillance

Workplace surveillance is traditionally conceived of as a dyadic process, with an observer and an observee. In this paper, I discuss the implications of an emerging form of workplace surveillance: surveillance with an algorithmic, as opposed to human, observer. Situated within the on-demand food-delivery context, I draw upon Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad to provide in-depth conceptual examination of how platforms rely on conceived space, namely the virtual reality generated by data capture, while neglecting perceived and lived space in the form of the material embodied reality of workers. This paper offers a two-fold contribution. First, it applies Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad to the techno-centric digital cartography used by platform-mediated organisations, assessing spatial power dynamics and opportunities for resistance. Second, this paper advances organisational research into workplace surveillance in situations where the observer and decision-maker can be a non-human agent.

scholarly journals ‘I’m my own boss…’: Active intermediation and ‘entrepreneurial’ worker agency in the Australian gig-economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1643-1661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Barratt ◽  
Caleb Goods ◽  
Alex Veen
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Temporal Features ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Platform firm in the gig-economy are disrupting work as a social practice, production systems and recasting capital-labour relations. This qualitative study examines worker agency in the Australian food-delivery sector; a segment where platforms actively intermediate both product and labour markets. Within this sector, worker agency poses a potential challenge to platform-organisations; however this study reveals how these platforms’ work organisation and market regulation constrain agency potential. Shaped by the work’s spatio-temporal features, organisational fixes and institutional context, it is shown how food-delivery workers, transiently attached to the labour market, predominantly engage in ‘entrepreneurial agency’ – a low-level agency expression aimed at materially improving individual conditions and aligning with, rather than challenging, platforms’ business models.

Gender, Class, and the Gig Economy: The Case of Platform-Based Food Delivery

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052094963
Author(s):  
Ruth Milkman ◽  
Luke Elliott-Negri ◽  
Kathleen Griesbach ◽  
Adam Reich
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Food Shopping ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Working Class Women ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Original Survey

Drawing on original survey and interview data on platform-based food delivery workers, we deploy an intersectional lens to analyze the ways in which the white working-class women who predominate in this sector of the gig economy interpret their work experience. With a focus on the gender–class nexus, we explore the reasons why these workers, especially mothers and other caregivers, self-select into this sector. These include: scheduling flexibility, which facilitates balancing paid work and family care; the opportunity to use previously unpaid food shopping skills to generate income, a neoliberal form of “wages for housework”; and the emotional rewards of serving elderly and disabled customers who cannot easily shop for themselves. Although these workers embrace the traditional gender division of labor and normative femininity, at the same time they express strong class resentment of both the companies they work for and the class and gender entitlements of their most privileged customers.

scholarly journals The Significance of Herzberg and Taylor for the Gig Economy of China

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Boidurjo Rick Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Chris R. Chatwin
Keyword(s):  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Employee Motivation ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Contingent Workers ◽  
Online Platform ◽  
Gig Economy

This article investigates the motivation of contingent workers in the gig economy of China, particularly focusing on the two Mobile Food Delivery Aggregators (MFDA) - Meituan and Ele.me that controls over 80% of the food delivery market in China. The convenience of one ‘super-app' on phone, offered by each of these companies, allows users to order a diversified range of products and services starting from food, clothing to travel booking and ride-hailing. Online food ordering, however, tops the chart of online orders and this creates millions of food delivery rider jobs/gigs in mainland China. This paper draws key insights from the employee motivation theories by Herzberg and Taylor which underpins the findings and thematic discussion of this qualitative paper. While it is important to recognise that the usage growth of these MFDAs and consequently new gig creation is exponentially growing, the implications of this research would inform these online platform-based companies how to better design motivational factors or incentives to boost their employee satisfaction, engagement and levels of commitments in the colossal Gig economy of mainland China.

India's digital economy workforce is set to expand

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Indian Consumers ◽  
Software Services

Significance Not only has the range of software services provided widened, but a host of other services are being delivered remotely and in person through digital platforms to Indian consumers. This diversification is changing the working conditions of India’s burgeoning digital economy workforce. Impacts Wages in the digital gig economy will fall as more workers enter this segment. Platform work in unskilled areas such as food delivery will lower India’s long-term skills base. Gender gaps in the digital economy will persist given the lack of policy correctives.

Explaining the decline of tipping norms in the gig economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-245
Author(s):  
Erik P. Duhaime ◽  
Zachary W. Woessner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Amazon Mechanical Turk ◽  
Fixed Amount ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Worker Autonomy

Purpose Advances in information technology have enabled new ways of organizing work and led to a proliferation of what is known as the “gig economy.” While much attention has been paid to how these new organizational designs have upended traditional employee–employer relationships, there has been little consideration of how these changes have impacted the social norms and expectations that govern the relationship between workers and consumers. The purpose of this paper is to consider the social norm of tipping and propose that gig work is associated with a breakdown of tipping norms in part because of workers’ increased autonomy in terms of deciding when and whether to work. Design/methodology/approach The authors present four studies to support their hypothesis: a survey vignette experiment with workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk (Study 1), an analysis of New York City taxi data (Study 2), a field experiment with restaurant employee food delivery drivers (Study 3) and a field experiment with gig-worker food delivery drivers (Study 4). Findings In Studies 1 and 2, they find that consumers are less likely to tip when workers have autonomy in deciding whether to complete a task. In Study 3, they find that restaurant delivery employees notice upfront tips (or lack thereof) and alter their service as a result. In contrast, in Study 4, they find that gig-workers who agree to complete a delivery for a fixed amount that includes an upfront tip (or lack thereof) are not responsive to tips. Together, these findings suggest that the gig economy has not only transformed employee-employer relationships, but has also altered the norms and expectations of consumers and workers. Originality/value The authors present four different studies that consider the social norm of tipping in the context of gig work. Together, they highlight that perceptions of worker autonomy have driven the decline in tipping norms associated with gig work.

scholarly journals Online Food Delivery Services: Make or Break the Halal Supply Chain?

2021 ◽  
pp. 384-394
Author(s):  
Nina Naquiah Ahmad Nizar ◽  
Siti Aimi Sarah Zainal Abidin
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Peace Of Mind ◽  
Delivery Service ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Delivery Services ◽  
Halal Food

Online food delivery service (FDS) is the new gig economy in this era of new normal. Online FDS refers to the process whereby food that was ordered online is prepared and delivered to the consumer. FDS falls at the end of a food supply chain, the final stage just before the food reaches customers. However, this stage can make or break a wholesome food production, particularly in halal food supply chain. This paper revisits the guidelines of FDS in Malaysia; then extended to the measures taken during Covid-19 pandemic. The focus is food safety and quality, and halal supply chain. It is hoped that this overview will become a source of information for the public for their peace of mind, and the food delivery service providers to deliver wholesome food to their customers

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