Flexibility and freedom for whom? Precarity, freedom and flexibility in on-demand food delivery

Cano, Melissa Renau; Espelt, Ricard; Morell, Mayo Fuster

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0046

Cited by 24 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…The login employment becomes precarious when the workload decreases, thus making the workers choose peak hours and late-night deliveries to garner high earnings (Dunn, 2020). Working for longer hours on multiple platforms is a necessity as these platforms offer low barriers to entry and relatively stable monotonous work with free login systems (Cano et al, 2021;Shevchuk et al, 2021).…”

Section: Barriers To Entry Of Gig Workers In the Gig Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to entry of gig workers in the gig platforms: exploring the dark side of the gig economy

Behl

Rajagopal

Sheorey

et al. 2022

AJIM

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PurposeThe alternative arrangements to traditional employment have become a promising area in the gig economy with the technological advancements dominating every work. The purpose of this paper is to explore the barriers to the entry of gig workers in gig platforms pertaining to the food delivery sector. It proposes a framework using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) for which systematic literature review is done to extract the variables. This analysis helps to examine the relationship between the entry barriers to gig platforms. The study further proposes strategies to reduce the entry barriers in gig sector which would help to enhance productivity and generate employment opportunities.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses interpretive structural model (ISM) to ascertain the relationship between various entry barriers of the gig workers to the gig platforms. It also validates the relationship and understand the reasons of their association along with MICMAC analysis. The model was designed by consulting the gig workers and the experts allied to food delivery gig platforms namely Zomato and Swiggy.FindingsIt was observed that high competition, longer login hours and late-night deliveries are the significant barriers with high driving power and low dependence power. Poor payment structures and strict terms and conditions for receiving the incentives are interdependent on each other and have moderate driving and dependence power. The expenses borne by the gig workers, such as Internet, fuel and vehicle maintenance expenses have high dependence power and low driving power. Hence, they are relatively less significant than other barriers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is confined to food delivery sector of India, without considering other important sectors of gig economy for generalizing the framework. As the study is based on forming an ISM framework through literature review only, it does not consider other research methods for analysing the entry barriers to the gig platforms.Practical implicationsThe study attempts to dig out the low entry barriers for gig workers in food delivery platforms as there is a dearth of analysis of these factors. This study would weave them using ISM framework to help the gig platforms overcome these barriers at various levels, thus adding to the body of literature.Originality/valueThe study discusses the need for understanding relationship between the entry barriers in the form of ISM model to identify the dependent and driving factors of the same.

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Section: Barriers To Entry Of Gig Workers In the Gig Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to entry of gig workers in the gig platforms: exploring the dark side of the gig economy

Behl

Rajagopal

Sheorey

et al. 2022

AJIM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent work has studied the impact of COVID-19 on the gig economy, finding increases in opportunities for fullydigital gig work, decreases in the number of in-person gig workers, and changes on the part of in-person gig work platforms, including both positive (employment benefits, including limited paid sick leave) and negative changes (restricting the flexibility and freedom of workers) [76,17,40,1].…”

Section: Motivations Of Gig Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

"Nudes? Shouldn't I charge for these?" : Exploring What Motivates Content Creation on OnlyFans

Hamilton¹,

Soneji²,

McDonald³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Social media platforms are increasingly considering models to incentivize creators to publish high quality content on their platforms. As a result, social media content creation has transformed into a form of gig work for some creators. In order to better design social media platforms to support this labor, we need to understand professional creators' motivations. In this work, we present a qualitative interview study of the motivations of 22 U.S. OnlyFans creators. OnlyFans is a subscription-based social media platform that is unique in that it is primarily associated with sexual content (although it is not marketed as such) and thus creators are positioned at the intersection of professional content creation and sex work, exposing them to a unique set of potential challenges. Beyond the typical motivations for pursuing other forms of gig work (e.g., flexibility, autonomy) our findings highlight three key factors explaining the rapid growth of OnlyFans despite the potential stigma of sexual content creation: (1) societal visibility and mainstream acceptance of OnlyFans, created through a combination of celebrity hype and the design of the platform itself; (2) platform design: affordances for boundary setting with clients, privacy from the public, and content archives, which together create a labor environment participants viewed as better than other forms of gig work, a natural avenue for sexual expression, and enabling monetization of existing content, audiences, and skills; and (3) the pandemic, which led to both high demand for immediate income while waiting for-or after running out of-unemployment benefits, and increased free time, which increased general demand for pornographic content.

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“…They emphasize increased health risks [44], and the high prevalence of infection among couriers in Ecuador [43]. They also report a global worsening of working conditions such as the intensification of precarious working conditions [6,40,63] due to greater financial insecurity [29] and reduced earnings per hour for the same number of working hours [1,44]. Finally, the pandemic helped to expose some of the vulnerability these workers were facing [49].…”

Section: Impacts Of the Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers

Aguiléra¹,

Dablanc²,

Krier

et al. 2022

Eur. Transp. Res. Rev.

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Background Platform-based fast delivery is developing rapidly in many cities across the world, especially in the food sector. Yet knowledge about the characteristics and the activity patterns of delivery couriers is scarce, especially in terms of their mobility behavior. Methodology Based on two questionnaire surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021 with 300 and 500 couriers respectively, this article analyses the profiles, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers working in Paris (France), with a focus on the impacts of the pandemic. Results First, the analysis of the profiles and motivations of couriers reveals that platform-based delivery is largely a temporary activity performed by young males of foreign origin, and undertaken as a student job or an entry to the labor market. Second, data on mobility patterns confirm that platform-based delivery is a dangerous activity with a high risk of road accidents. Moreover, many couriers break the law in order to increase their income by using motorized two-wheelers that are not legally permitted in France. We also show the use of shared bikes, which seems to be a great support tool for couriers who are starting work in this sector or have a problem with their own bikes. Third, the pandemic prompted many students to become platform-based delivery couriers in order to compensate for the lack of student jobs. It also worsened the working conditions of the majority of platform-based couriers. These findings raise new urban policy challenges and also new avenues for research in terms of topics and methods.

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Flexibility and freedom for whom? Precarity, freedom and flexibility in on-demand food delivery

Cited by 24 publications

References 53 publications

Barriers to entry of gig workers in the gig platforms: exploring the dark side of the gig economy

Barriers to entry of gig workers in the gig platforms: exploring the dark side of the gig economy

"Nudes? Shouldn't I charge for these?" : Exploring What Motivates Content Creation on OnlyFans

Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers

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