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theses

A ride-hailing platform has revolutionized how services are conducted and exchanged in the taxi industry. With technology and customers replacing supervisory control, the ride-hailing work is unique in terms of having multiple partners interacting with each other for value proposition. With a multi-party characteristic identified, I argue that some of the previous research is limited in terms of its emphasis on dyadic exchanges or a discussion focused on the sole function of the platform without integration. As such, it’s still unclear how a platform has transformed and thus impacted our understanding of work exchanges in the ride-hailing work. To address this question, by integrating generalized exchange theory (e.g., Bearman, 1997) with studies of platform work, I propose that ride-hailing services can be best characterized as a triangular exchange mediated by platform technology. Although this type of work has been promoted to enhance work efficiency (Mäntymäki et al., 2019), it brings risks of non-indirect reciprocity and opportunities of free riding to drivers. To address these concerns, I argue that drivers can either trust a platform’s governance of the multilateral exchange or take strategies to combat information asymmetry by gaining knowledge of the platform. By doing so, drivers’ perceptions of a multi-party psychological contract violation can be affected, which, in turn, determines their job performance. To test my hypotheses, I conducted a field investigation using objective performance data obtained from organizational archives and survey data collected from 341 ride-hailing drivers over a 4-month period. My results provide some support for my predictions. I discuss theoretical and practical implications, limitations, as well as future directions.

http://dissertations.umi.com/gsnb.rutgers:12408

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-28mc-8r08

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