Paper short abstract:

This study aims to understand challenges faced in a digital transformation programme for women microenterpreneurs in Indonesia, including the selection of participants of the programme, digital literacy, resources limitations among the participants, database management, and physical interaction.

Paper long abstract:

The pandemic and its policy consequences have undoubtedly impacted various life dimensions, not only health, globally. Many businesses were forced to be shut, or at least limit their activities. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which can be regarded as the backbone of Indonesian economy, were not immune to the impact of the pandemic. Many of them have experienced declined income due to physical distancing measures, as their business models mostly are traditional. Efforts are needed to minimize the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for the marginalized groups. Women, for example, are expected by society to play more significant roles in their children’s activities, while at the same time struggle to maintain their work activities. Therefore, efforts have been launched to assist women microentrepreneurs to cope with the pandemic, including programme ABC. The programme offers mentoring, coaching, business clinics, and webinars for women microentrepreneurs, particularly on the topic of business digitalization, to build knowledge and capacity to adapt their businesses and continue trading. Using a qualitative approach relying on interviews and FGDs with key stakeholders of the programme, this study aims to understand what has worked and not worked within the programme. Particularly, it identifies some challenges with regards to, among others, the selection of participants of the programme, digital literacy, resources limitations among the participants, database management, and physical interaction. It is expected that the result of this study can serve as a basis for the improvement of similar programme in the future.

Paper short abstract:

To explore the renewed landscape of informal economies in the platform age, the proposed presentation investigates the impacts of digital platforms on urban informality. It aims to propose a conceptual framework that pieces together two different domains of literature (on platforms and informality)

Paper long abstract:

To some, the arrival and penetration of digital platforms in the vast informal economies of the global South cities may sound no longer new. To others, it still is a momentous opportunity to transform the informal sector. As the bustling streets fuse into the virtual marketplaces, the dynamics of transactions, trust, and communities are being reshaped. To explore the renewed landscape of informal economies in the platform age, this paper investigates the impacts (both positive and negative) of digital platforms on the urban sub-sectors that were already informal. While research into this particular phenomenon (i.e., platforms to (in)formalise economies) itself is not new, there has been little conceptualisation around the very intersection of platformisation and urban informality. The paper thus aims to propose a conceptual framework by piecing together two different domains of literature (on digital platforms and urban informality), looking at this intersection from 4 different angles: regulation, legitimacy, value extraction, and collective agency.

Paper short abstract:

With mixed methods combining quantitative and qualitative data, this article investigates the device assemblages and device aspirations of Indian platform workers. The findings unveil differences between genders and suggest the existence of a gendered investment gap in devices used in platform work.

Paper long abstract:

Online labour platforms (OLPs) have emerged as sites offering opportunities for people around the world to bid for jobs and tasks which can be completed from a distance. They have been surmised to enable a “flat” world whereby global matching of those selling and buying work would allow specialized human capital to migrate virtually. Despite its location on a proverbial cloud, such platform work relies on a working environment setup which necessitates the use of one or more digital devices. Little is known about the device setups of cloudworkers even though they function as a linchpin enabling cloudworkers to carry out projects and communicate with platform clients. Understanding inequalities in device accessibility and use is crucial, as traditionally, women tend to be on the wrong side of digital and investment divides, especially in lower- and middle-income countries. Based on a survey of 405 Indian platform workers registered on four leading OLPs, this article investigates their device assemblages and device aspirations and compares men and women as well as the platform subsamples to elucidate inequalities between the groups. The results indicate differences between genders and suggest the existence of a gendered investment gap for devices used for platform work.

Empirically, this study provides topical findings around relevant subgroups within a country that hosts significant numbers of platform workers; theoretically, it develops testable theory for a topic that remains understudied and undertheorized; and practically, it proposes a mixed-methods research approach that combines quantitative and qualitative viewpoints that allow addressing a complex topic.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores ride-hail apps strategies of control over drivers, and the so far under-researched and/or under-theorised dynamics of internal stratification among drivers

Paper long abstract:

The central question of this presentation is to what extent and how do Uber and other ride hail apps exert control over partners/workers. It draws on fieldwork on the political economy of digital ride hail platforms and their impact on work, employment and public transport in three African cities: Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg. It will explore the functioning of these platforms, and their impact on drivers/partners and work, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative fieldwork (a survey was administered to 100 drivers in the 3 cities, and interviews and focus groups were held in them).

First, I will discuss UBER’s ideological control over work and its consequences, exploring how the platform projects the idea that its drivers are independent partners, not workers, and whether/how drivers internalise this framing. Second, the analysis focusses on the algorithmic management of work. Third, the paper discussed non algorithmic strategies of management by the apps. A fourth focus of the talk is the discussion of the employment relations that predominate in the sector (are UBER drivers self-employed own-account workers or drivers operating the car of someone else? Are they drivers in the process of purchasing their own car with finance or driver who already own their car?). The paper will show that answering this question, neglected by much of the growing literature on ride hail apps in Africa, is of central important to begin to understand patterns of workforce internal stratification, how UBER works and for whom.

Paper short abstract:

How do digital transport platforms affect informal markets? We study transport systems in Lagos and Abuja as informal marketplaces: spaces where human labor is sold at a unit price. Drawing on Clifford Geertz’s work on 'bazaars', we examine platform economy processes in two Nigerian metropolises.

Paper long abstract:

As described by Geertz, contrary to competitive markets, informal marketplaces are characterized by high uncertainty of information and relative unpredictability of supply and demand which make the prices extremely volatile. Through clientalisation, clients (riders) establish continuing personal relationships with sellers (drivers) to reduce the information effort of finding the best price to quality arrangement. Clientalization builds on trust relationships that transcend a single transaction and allows for fair and equitable price negotiation (bargaining). Through clientelization and bargaining, each transaction (ride) is determined through the realities of a particular case rather than the general distribution of comparable causes. As a result, bazaars are characterised by high fragmentation of person-to-person transactions, low levels of capitalization, and a reliance on personal networks.

In this paper, we propose that platform economy distorts the information distribution of informal marketplaces: the rules imposed by the platforms reverse the information asymmetry between clients and drivers. We build on a recent mixed-method study of digital platforms in use (Uber and Bolt), comprising semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations conducted in Lagos and Abuja between June and December 2022. We argue that, through information dispossession, platform economy disproportionately weakens the drivers’ position in the negotiation process. Through platforms, the client-seller (rider-driver) relationships become mediated, controlled, and manipulated by the algorithm. We propose that this type of asymmetric information that prioritizes the client is a fundamental part of the platforms’ neoliberal business model that capitalizes on the oversupply of labor currently experienced in most agglomerations in Sub-Saharan Africa.