Labor control and task autonomy under the sharing economy: a mixed-method study of drivers’ work

This mixed-method study analyzes the labor process and labor supply of drivers on a Chinese mobile-travel platform. Different from the control of the traditional labor process, such platforms have a more-fragmented control of labor, which coexists with workers’ task autonomy. Based on this assessment, we propose three core mechanisms by which platforms control the labor process and produce work consent: task autonomy, performance-related pay and motivation, and the star rating system. Under the influence of these three mechanisms, workers form both active consent to and passive acceptance of the platform and its rules. Moreover, we analyze data from a survey of 15,484 drivers to show that drivers’ work consent could be transformed into overwork, although identity difference is at play in the transformation process.