When Institutional Opportunism Meets Institutional Failings: the Case of Platform Work in Serbia

Abstract Despite the expanding literature on platformisation, Serbia, one of the leading countries in terms of the number of platform workers, remains significantly understudied within this field. This article examines the dynamics of digital platformisation in Serbia by critically analyzing how digital labour platforms interact with the national institutional framework. Focusing on the transportation and food delivery sector, the article reveals how institutional gaps, ambiguities, and enforcement failures create a discretionary space utilized by platform companies, intermediaries, and workers to maximize their profit-seeking, rent-seeking, and earning strategies. Furthermore, the article demonstrates how such strategies lead to the proliferation of informal and quasi-formal work arrangements in the platform economy. This article broadens the literature on platform work by emphasizing the interplay between national institutional settings and platform strategies, offering new insights into how platform economies evolve in transitional settings.