Beyond and Behind Platforms and Algorithms: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Gig Workers

While the literature on gig work is expanding rapidly, many are the issues that need to be answered in order to fully understand the lived experiences of gig workers and illuminate the dynamics of gig work. Despite it is widely recognized that gig workers constitute an heterogenous workforce, for instance, seminal works have focused on finding similarities among gig workers across platforms, while the mechanisms behind different gig workers’ behaviors and perceptions are still widely obscure. Moreover, most of the literature focuses on what gig workers do individually on platforms, but not – or only cursorily – on how these workers manage the interplay between their online and offline activities. Specifically, comprehending how the online dimensions of work blur or integrate with offline aspects of gig workers’ lives – such as family condition or family needs, the presence of alternative, offline jobs, the cultural context of the community and country of origin – is of significant importance. This symposium addresses these issues by examining what happens behind and beyond platforms, and by presenting four papers looking at different gig workers’ experiences and different forms of interplay between online and offline aspects of gig work. A Multi-National Ethnography of Ride-Hailing in the Global South Author: Lindsey Cameron; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Author: Bobbi Thomason; Pepperdine Graziadio Business School Understanding African Digital Platform Workers’ Behaviours through the Lens of Omoluwabi Ethos Author: Ayomikun Idowu; U. of Sussex Business School Gig workers and Wellbeing: How is Algorithmic Work related to Work-Life Balance? Author: Francesca Bellesia; Dep. of Sciences and Methods for Engineering, U. of Modena and Reggio Emilia Author: Fabiola Bertolotti; U. of Modena and Reggio Emilia Author: Elisa Mattarelli; San Jose State U. Gig work in organizations: Trends and perspectives from Human Resource Management professionals Author: Ksenia Keplinger; Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Author: Aizhan Tursunbayeva; Parthenope U. of Naples Author: Vindhya Singh; Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Author: Stefano Di Lauro; U. Mercatorum