TY - BOOK

T1 - Managing Algorithmic Flexibility

T2 - The quality of work and evolving labour market inequalities in the Danish platform economy

AU - Haldrup, Christian

PY - 2024/6/10

Y1 - 2024/6/10

N2 - The main objective of this dissertation is to study working conditions – the quality of work – over time at digital labour platforms such as Wolt or Hilfr with the Danish labour market as an empirical case. These platforms have recently gained much attention for providing easy access to tasks and earnings through a digitally mediated infrastructure. However, they have also faced criticism for contributing to labour market inequalities due to their digitalised and unregulated working conditions, which have led to uncertainties in the quality of work in the form of fluctuating working hours and earnings. Limited access to platform data further complicates studying these contexts, as many platforms are reluctant to share their data with researchers. This dissertation bridges this gap by utilising a working time data series from a total population of food delivery couriers provided by the prominent food delivery platform Wolt. By applying a longitudinal perspective on these data, the dissertation offers novel empirical insights relevant to ongoing discussions on regulating the platform economy and the implications of digitalisation on organisational structures and contemporary working lives. The dissertation's main contribution is revealing three previously unidentified segments of platform workers with stable and distinct working time patterns, indicating that labour market inequalities are evolving within the platform. Further, the dissertation examines the platform and the worker levels, providing complementary perspectives of structural conditions that cause inequalities to emerge within the platform. Overall, the dissertation consists of four separate research articles that quantitatively and qualitatively analyse the abovementioned aspects.

AB - The main objective of this dissertation is to study working conditions – the quality of work – over time at digital labour platforms such as Wolt or Hilfr with the Danish labour market as an empirical case. These platforms have recently gained much attention for providing easy access to tasks and earnings through a digitally mediated infrastructure. However, they have also faced criticism for contributing to labour market inequalities due to their digitalised and unregulated working conditions, which have led to uncertainties in the quality of work in the form of fluctuating working hours and earnings. Limited access to platform data further complicates studying these contexts, as many platforms are reluctant to share their data with researchers. This dissertation bridges this gap by utilising a working time data series from a total population of food delivery couriers provided by the prominent food delivery platform Wolt. By applying a longitudinal perspective on these data, the dissertation offers novel empirical insights relevant to ongoing discussions on regulating the platform economy and the implications of digitalisation on organisational structures and contemporary working lives. The dissertation's main contribution is revealing three previously unidentified segments of platform workers with stable and distinct working time patterns, indicating that labour market inequalities are evolving within the platform. Further, the dissertation examines the platform and the worker levels, providing complementary perspectives of structural conditions that cause inequalities to emerge within the platform. Overall, the dissertation consists of four separate research articles that quantitatively and qualitatively analyse the abovementioned aspects.

UR - https://faos.ku.dk/pdf/PhD_dissertation_Christian_Haldrup.pdf

M3 - Ph.d.-afhandling

SN - 978-87-7629-027-6

BT - Managing Algorithmic Flexibility

CY - Københavns Universitet

ER -