Disconnecting labour: The impact of intraplatform algorithmic changes on the labour process and workers' capacity to organise collectively
研究英国某城市外卖平台通过算法管理调整工作条件，发现算法变化导致劳动力碎片化，削弱了骑手集体组织能力。
Abstract This article examines how gig economy platform companies, via algorithmic management, shape working conditions and collective organisation of food delivery couriers. Using qualitative data from one case study operating in a city in the United Kingdom, the study captures real‐time intraplatform unilateral changes in algorithmic management to provide increased flexibility for couriers. Findings show algorithmic changes generating a reconfigured, fragmented and compliant workforce. As a result, couriers demonstrate different interests and motivations to work for the company, where disparities in the demands for improved working conditions hindered efforts for collective organising. This article argues that intraplatform algorithmic changes create affordances that companies can exploit to concentrate power over labour even when conceding some control over the labour process.