Labour process theory and the gig economy
Open accessAbstract
What are the distinctive traits that characterize work(ing) through (and for) a digital platform? In the burgeoning debate on the ‘gig economy’, a critical examination that comprehensively addresses this issue beyond specific examples or case studies is currently missing. This article uses labour process theory – an important Marxist approach in the study of relations of production in industrial capitalism – to address this gap. Supported by empirical illustrations from existing research, the article discusses the notions of ‘point of production’, emotional labour and control in the gig economy to argue that labour process theory offers a unique set of tools to expand our understanding of the way in which labour power comes to be transformed into a commodity in a context where the encounter between supply and demand of work is mediated by a digital platform, and where feedback, ranking and rating systems serve purposes of managerialization and monitoring of workers.
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Labour process theory's abiding concerns-risk of deskilling, struggles over autonomy and control, and role of machines in setting pace of labour-play out in present AI debates.
“some of its abiding concerns play out in the present AI debates (Steihof, 2021). This includes the risk of deskilling or making workers'skills redundant, open-ended struggles over autonomy and control, and the role of machines in setting the pace of labour, defining the barriers of tasks and facilitating information gathering (Gandini, 2019; Knights and Willmott, 2016).”
From Generative Artificial Intelligence in Business: Towards a Strategic Human Resource Management Framework (2024) · cites this paper as Gandini, 2019
Emotional labor is at the heart of the labor process in digital labor platforms because of customer rating systems.
“Based on labor process theory, Gandini (2019) proposed that emotional labor is at the heart of the labor process in the digital labor platforms because of customer rating systems.”
From Gig work and gig workers: An integrative review and agenda for future research (2024) · cites this paper as Gandini (2019)
Rating systems regulate social interactions between workers and consumers, so workers have to engage in emotional labor to obtain more favorable ratings.
“As these systems regulate the social interactions between workers and consumers, workers have to engage in emotional labor to obtain more favorable ratings.”
From Gig work and gig workers: An integrative review and agenda for future research (2024) · cites this paper as Gandini (2019)
Workers have very little freedom to accept or decline algorithmic assignments because acceptance rate and average time to accept assignments are indicators used by algorithms in calculating performance scores and determining future assignments.
“Workers have also very little freedom to accept or decline algorithmic assignments, because the acceptance rate and average time to accept assignments are indicators used by algorithms in the calculation of performance scores and in the determination of future assignments”
From Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs (2022) · cites this paper as Gandini, 2019
Algorithmic monitoring is positively associated with emotional demands.
“Emotional demands (+)”
From Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs (2022) · cites this paper as Gandini (2019)
Empirical research shows that freelance platform workers respond to algorithmic control by gaming and at times sabotaging algorithms to (re)gain control.
“Empirical research shows that freelance platform workers respond to algorithmic control by gaming and at times, sabotaging algorithms to (re)gain control (Gandini, 2019;Kellogg et al., 2020;Newlands, 2020;Veen et al., 2020).”
From Algorithmic human resource management: Synthesizing developments and cross-disciplinary insights on digital HRM (2021) · cites this paper as Gandini, 2019
OLPs still need to control their freelance workforce to align their behavior to strategic objectives of the OLP and clients' interests.
“However, OLPs nevertheless still need to control their freelance workforce to align their behavior to strategic objectives of the OLP and clients' interests (Frenken et al., 2020;Gandini, 2019;Meijerink et al., 2021).”
From Algorithmic human resource management: Synthesizing developments and cross-disciplinary insights on digital HRM (2021) · cites this paper as Gandini, 2019
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“…extremely useful to the study of forms of capital appropriation that occur beyond the ordinary notion of a workplace (Bohm and Land 2012: 236) and whereby digital technologies are used for purposes of control and surveillance at work (Beverungen et al., 2015; Moore and Robinson, 2015; Moore, 2017).”
BackgroundInfluentialReputation and trust on online labour markets: the reputation economy of Elance
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“Emotional labour and ‘gig work’ The notion of ‘emotional labour’ (Hochschild, 1983) has been acknowledged by labour process research as an important social process playing a key role in the way social relations come to be subjected to forms of managerial control (Brook, 2013).”
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Flagged first, then by citations
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Duggan, J., Sherman, U., Carbery, R., & McDonnell, A. (2020) · Human Resource Management Journal · doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12258 · Cited by 1,050 · see citing works
Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs
Parent-Rocheleau, X., & Parker, S. K. (2022) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100838 · Cited by 512 · see citing works
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“This includes the risk of deskilling or making workers’skills redundant, open-ended struggles over autonomy and control, and the role of machines in setting the pace of labour, defining the barriers of tasks and facilitating information gathering (Gandini, 2019; Knights and Willmott, 2016).”
BackgroundWaldkirch, M., Bucher, E., Schou, P. K., & Grünwald, E. (2021) · The International Journal of Human Resource Management · doi:10.1080/09585192.2021.1914129 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
“In the words of Gandini (2019), the algorithm becomes an ‘invisible managerial figure’ that workers must deal with constantly while also successfully applying for gigs and maintaining a professional relationship with clients.”
BackgroundGig work and gig workers: An integrative review and agenda for future research
Wu, D., & Huang, J. L. (2024) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2775 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Über-Alienated: Powerless and Alone in the Gig Economy
Glavin, P., Bierman, A., & Schieman, S. (2021) · Work and Occupations · doi:10.1177/07308884211024711 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
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Deranty, J.-P., & Corbin, T. (2024) · AI & SOCIETY · doi:10.1007/s00146-022-01496-x · Cited by 118 · see citing works
“A key study of algorithmic management, emphasising the contestation between management and employee around the new tools of control and coercion offered by AI, is Kellogg (2020), which uses labour process theory as its framework 2019 for gig work).”
Digital platforms and the changing nature of physical work: Insights from ride-hailing
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Anthropotropism: Searching for Recognition in the Scandinavian Gig Economy
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“…ride hail, food delivery and domestic work services because a large and flexible pool of workers enables them to regulate the supply side of their platforms through a combination of incentives, gamification and algorithmic management (Gandini 2019; Jabagi et al. 2019; Woodcock and Graham 2019).”
Terry, E., Marks, A., Dakessian, A., & Christopoulos, D. (2022) · Work, Employment and Society · doi:10.1177/0950017020979504 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Leung, L. Y. M. (2022) · Critical Sociology · doi:10.1177/08969205221091449 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
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Mantilla-León, L. C., Jaimes Rodríguez, I., & Maldonado Castañeda, O. J. (2026) · Critical Sociology · doi:10.1177/08969205241304790 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment
Kapania, S., Yang, T., Abdelkadir, N. A., Scheuerman, M. K., Miceli, M., Taylor, A. S., & Fox, S. E. (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791097 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Workers are thus reframed as “users” of platforms instead of being recognized as employees subject to capital-labor relationship [53].”
Managing Human Resource in the Digital Economy: Balancing Challenges and Opportunities
Suwaji, R., Hepiyanto, Sabella, R. I., Waloyo, & Kurniawati, R. (2024) · Jurnal Informasi dan Teknologi · doi:10.60083/jidt.v6i2.535 · Cited by 2
- Authors
- Gandini, A.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gandini, Alessandro
- ORCID
- Gandini, Alessandro
- Venue
- Human Relations
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-09-18
- Volume
- 72
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1039-1056
- ISSN
- 0018-7267 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-282X
- OpenAlex
- W2892117148
- Cited by
- 946
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 147 · 2025: 143 · 2024: 160 · 2023: 142 · 2022: 173 · 2021: 92 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 102.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- kclpure.kcl.ac.uk
- Locations
- Human Relations (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Economy and Work Transformation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Legal and Labor Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies
- Keywords
- gig economy, labour process theory, digital platforms, emotional labor, workers' control, managerialization, worker monitoring, platform work
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