{"title":"Lost in the Perilous Boulevards of Gig Economy: Making of Human Drones","authors":"Rajesh Gupta, Rajneesh Gupta","doi":"10.1177/23220937221101259","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Along with advancements in information technology and related infrastructure, the gig economy is expanding to more and more cities in the world. In emerging economies like India, due to increasing urbanisation and Internet connectivity, many services are being delivered through technology platforms, and their numbers are growing fast. However, not much is known about the impact of app-based employment on the workers. The online food delivery sector is a suitable segment to probe the same. How vulnerable is this ever-dispensable food delivery employee in his monotonous job? These workers are employed under the mobile apps that control them like in a sci-fi game. What does it mean to be constantly under the mobile app surveillance? Does the flexibility of the gig economy impact the skills and aspirations of these boys? Does it dehumanise the workers and transform them into human drones? This study maps the lived experience of food delivery boys and their families, which has so far remained behind the celebrated success of the platform economy in India. Using both interview and participant observation methods to study gig workers and deploying dimensional analysis to unpack the context, this study finds evidence of unobtrusive dehumanisation. Given the mushrooming trend of such gig workers, the findings of this study call for a deeper analysis of the social impact of the gig economy and have far-reaching implications.","PeriodicalId":42119,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Journal of Human Resource Management","volume":"10 1","pages":"85 - 106"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South Asian Journal of Human Resource Management","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23220937221101259","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Along with advancements in information technology and related infrastructure, the gig economy is expanding to more and more cities in the world. In emerging economies like India, due to increasing urbanisation and Internet connectivity, many services are being delivered through technology platforms, and their numbers are growing fast. However, not much is known about the impact of app-based employment on the workers. The online food delivery sector is a suitable segment to probe the same. How vulnerable is this ever-dispensable food delivery employee in his monotonous job? These workers are employed under the mobile apps that control them like in a sci-fi game. What does it mean to be constantly under the mobile app surveillance? Does the flexibility of the gig economy impact the skills and aspirations of these boys? Does it dehumanise the workers and transform them into human drones? This study maps the lived experience of food delivery boys and their families, which has so far remained behind the celebrated success of the platform economy in India. Using both interview and participant observation methods to study gig workers and deploying dimensional analysis to unpack the context, this study finds evidence of unobtrusive dehumanisation. Given the mushrooming trend of such gig workers, the findings of this study call for a deeper analysis of the social impact of the gig economy and have far-reaching implications.
期刊介绍:
South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management (SAJHRM) is a peer-reviewed scholarly outlet for publications on HRM in and out of South Asia. It includes countries that are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In terms of the discipline focus, all articles broadly focusing on the theory and practice of managing human resources for the benefit of individuals, firms and community at large will be acceptable. In view of the contemporary focus on Strategic HRM, the journal coverage would also include comparative research and other related management disciplines as long as one of the key aims of the manuscript is on harnessing the potential of human capital. Considering the uneven economic development within the South Asian region, the journal encourages potential authors to explore broader implications of their scholarly views and findings on the region as a whole. A distinguishing feature of the journal is its focus on “HR in Practice”. Apart from theory, it will pay significant attention on how HRM is practiced in and out of South Asia. The journal features conceptual and empirical research papers, research notes, interviews, case studies and book reviews. In short, to be considered for publication, a manuscript should broadly focus on managing people and contextualised within one or more South Asian countries at the firm, regional, national and international levels.