Delivery driver’s Facebook groups: contested places of control and resistance

The proliferation of digital technology in all sectors of the economy has had tremendous impact on the organisation of work. In this context the rise of the gig-economy has attracted increasing attention from academia. While some observers praise the gig-economy for providing opportunities for autonomous and independent work, others highlight challenges such as the precarious nature of gig-work. One area that has attracted particular interest is new forms of control in the gig-economy. Due to the nature of the platform businesses that deny any employment relationship with their workers but rather classify them as independent ‘partners’, the reality of wide-reaching control of platform businesses over the labour process exists in tension to the classification as independent partners and advertised autonomy and independence. One theory that offers itself for the exploration of this area is Labour process Theory, which provides tools for the analysis of managerial control over the labour process. Common forms of control that have been observed in the gig-economy include algorithmic control, control by customers and control through incentives. Besides these forms of control another emerging form of control that has received less attention in the context of the gig-economy is normative control. When applying normative control, management prescribes certain identities to workers that suit management’s objective of generating profit. In the gig-economy the identities pushed by management are centred around independence and entrepreneurship. However, workers are not mere objects of control but they do actively engage in creating both consent and resistance to managerial control. Previous research suggests that online platforms play an important role in socialising, identity building and organisation of protest and solidarity of gig-workers. This thesis study thus answers the question what role Facebook groups and pages play in the formation of gig-workers identity and how resistance and consent to control by platform companies are negotiated in these groups and pages. To answer this question the study applied netnography, an emerging methodology that applies established ethnographic methods to an online context combined with online specific methods. Specifically, the study engaged in non-participant observation and narrative analysis of gig-workers Facebook groups and pages. This approach allows deep immersion in gig-workers online culture and observation in more natural setting than traditional ethnography, promising reliable data for the analysis of identity building and formation of consent and resistance in gig-worker’s online communities. Through the research process evidence of normative control through platforms were discovered as well as contesting identity narratives by riders that either consent or resist normative control. The research further demonstrates the importance of online spaces for mutual ai and the development of rider organisations which form the basis for protests and other forms of collective action. The findings of this thesis generate insights into both the role of online spaces for riders as well as for possible ways forward to support the organisation of gig workers.