The Uberization of Work: Non-Platform Workers’ Perceptions and Legitimacy Judgments of Algorithmic Control in Hybrid Control Regimes

Algorithmic control (AC) refers to the use of sophisticated algorithms to control worker behavior. While the AC phenomenon has primarily been studied in platform work contexts (e.g., Uber), it is increasingly making its way into non-platform organizations (e.g., Amazon Fulfillment), where it coexists with traditional human-based control to form a hybrid control regime. This coexistence raises novel and critical questions about how workers perceive and judge the legitimacy of AC. To shed empirical light on these questions, we conducted an online focus group study with warehouse workers at Amazon Fulfillment. The study results show that workers perceive AC systems as complementary to, but also dominant over, human control systems. Further, they suggest that especially high-performing and novice workers judge the legitimacy of AC systems positively (e.g., in terms of fairness and competence development), thereby contributing to a more balanced and nuanced perspective on the worker-level implications of such systems.