Pacifying the algorithm - Anticipatory compliance in the face of algorithmic management in the gig economy
Pacifying the algorithm - Anticipatory compliance in the face of algorithmic management in the gig economy
复制标题
安抚算法-面对零工经济中的算法管理，
DOI：
10.1177/1350508420961531
复制
发表时间：
2020-11-27
期刊：
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Waldkirch, Matthias
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bucher, Eliane Leontine;Schou, Peter Kalum;Waldkirch, Matthias
数字管理用于管理数字工作平台，如Upwork或Fiverr。然而，算法决策通常是不透明的，并且是快速发展的，这迫使工人不断调整他们的行为。现有的研究集中在工人如何体验算法管理，而往往忽视了工人在处理算法管理时所发挥的作用。从社会物质性的角度来看，我们调查了工作人员为遵守数字工作平台上的算法管理（假设）机制而开发的实践。基于对从数字自由职业者在线社区中抓取的12，294条评论的系统内容分析，我们展示了员工如何采取直接和间接的“预期合规实践”，例如低估自己的工作、保持低调、减少与客户的接触并控制情绪，以确保他们继续参与平台，扮演影子雇主的角色。我们的研究有助于算法管理的研究：（1）显示工人如何采用旨在“安抚”平台算法的实践;（2）概述工人如何从事额外工作;（3）显示工人如何通过预期的合规实践共同构建算法的力量。
Algorithmic management is used to govern digital work platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr. However, algorithmic decision-making is often non-transparent and rapidly evolving, forcing workers to constantly adapt their behavior. Extant research focuses on how workers experience algorithmic management, while often disregarding the agency that workers exert in dealing with algorithmic management. Following a sociomateriality perspective, we investigate the practices that workers develop to comply with (assumed) mechanisms of algorithmic management on digital work platforms. Based on a systematic content analysis of 12,294 scraped comments from an online community of digital freelancers, we show how workers adopt direct and indirect "anticipatory compliance practices", such as undervaluing their own work, staying under the radar, curtailing their outreach to clients and keeping emotions in check, in order to ensure their continued participation on the platform, which takes on the role of a shadow employer. Our study contributes to research on algorithmic management by (1) showing how workers adopt practices aimed at "pacifying" the platform algorithm; (2) outlining how workers engage in extra work; (3) showing how workers co-construct the power of algorithms through their anticipatory compliance practices.