Algorithmic Power and Identity: How Gig Workers Subvert, Internalize, or Reframe Platform Politics

Building on Huang et al. (2025), who argue that gig work challenges traditional organizational behavior theories, this project would go further by examining how gig workers make sense of and politically respond to algorithmic forms of power. How do they resist, game, or internalize platform rules? What new forms of identity and solidarity emerge in the absence of traditional organizational structures? This could involve digital ethnographies of online gig worker forums, in-depth interviews, and participant observation. The novelty is in theorizing power and identity in a context where formal organizational politics are minimal, but algorithmic control and digital communities offer new avenues for collective action and meaning-making. This research could help redefine our understanding of organizational power, politics, and identity in the digital age, with practical implications for platform governance and worker advocacy.

References:

1. Organizational Behavior in the Gig Economy: Contributions, Challenges, and New Directions. Jason L. Huang, Nathan A. Bowling, Dongyuan Wu (2025). Journal of Organizational Behavior.