Location
Online
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
3-1-2023 12:00 AM
End Date
7-1-2023 12:00 AM
Description
This study examines gig workers’ interactions with digital platforms to reveal how workers see technology in relation to their conduct of work. Gig workers are paid labors who find short-term tasks or projects through a digital labor platform (DLP) that connects clients and workers. Workers are intertwined with technologies in gig work. On DLPs such as Uber, tensions arise between humans and algorithmic management. Yet, our understanding of worker perceptions of DLP technologies remains limited. This study focuses on place-based gig work of delivery and grocery shopping (e.g., Instacart, Postmates) and draws upon sociomateriality research to reveal workers’ perceptions. Analysis of worker narratives revealed three themes related to worker enactments of technology on DLPs (affording, constraining, and seeking alternatives) and two co-existing, contradictory identities of technology (aid vs. obstacle). The dual relations suggest new dimensions of sociomateriality on DLPs and offer practical implications on the digitalization of work.
Recommended Citation
Deng, Xuefei and Pinto, Katy, "Understanding Human Enactment of Technology on Digital Labor Platforms" (2023). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2023 (HICSS-56). 7.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-56/ks/digitization_of_work/7
Understanding Human Enactment of Technology on Digital Labor Platforms
Online
This study examines gig workers’ interactions with digital platforms to reveal how workers see technology in relation to their conduct of work. Gig workers are paid labors who find short-term tasks or projects through a digital labor platform (DLP) that connects clients and workers. Workers are intertwined with technologies in gig work. On DLPs such as Uber, tensions arise between humans and algorithmic management. Yet, our understanding of worker perceptions of DLP technologies remains limited. This study focuses on place-based gig work of delivery and grocery shopping (e.g., Instacart, Postmates) and draws upon sociomateriality research to reveal workers’ perceptions. Analysis of worker narratives revealed three themes related to worker enactments of technology on DLPs (affording, constraining, and seeking alternatives) and two co-existing, contradictory identities of technology (aid vs. obstacle). The dual relations suggest new dimensions of sociomateriality on DLPs and offer practical implications on the digitalization of work.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-56/ks/digitization_of_work/7