Online platform algorithmic control and gig workers’ turnover intention in China: The mediating role of relative deprivation

A new perspective emerged from a study published in the Journal of Management Science and Engineering: algorithmic control is not merely a "negative management tool". Instead, its three-dimensional functions (behavioral constraints, tracking evaluation, and standardized guidance) exert significantly different impacts on the turnover intention of gig workers, breaking the previous one-dimensional understanding of algorithmic control.

Simply put, the results show that behavioral constraints and tracking evaluation increase turnover intention by exacerbating relative deprivation, while standardized guidance mitigates this effect and even directly reduces turnover intention.

“Prior studies mostly focused on the overall impact of algorithmic control but ignored its functional heterogeneity,” says corresponding author Wei Cai. “Our study reveals the mediating role of ‘relative deprivation’ based on the JD-R model, and for the first time confirming that the standardized guidance inherent in algorithms can serve as a "buffering resource," providing a new approach for platforms to optimize management.”

The authors collected data from 242 food delivery riders through a two-stage questionnaire survey (one month apart) to minimize common method bias and enhance the persuasiveness of the conclusions.

“Algorithmic control does not only have negative impacts on gig workers – it can also trigger positive outcomes,” adds Cai. “This conclusion reminds platforms that there is no need to completely negate algorithmic management; instead, they can balance efficiency and humanistic care by strengthening standardized guidance (such as optimizing task matching and real-time feedback), thereby alleviating the industry pain point of high turnover rates.”

Contact author details:

Wei Cai, School of International Studies, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, caiwei20211118@163.com

Funder:

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (GA n.72272054); Humanities and Social Science Foundation project of Ministry of Education (GA n.22YJA630049); Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation Project (GA n.2022JJ30208); Key Project of Changsha Natural Science Foundation (GA n.kq2202302) 

Conflict of interest:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. 

See the article:

Yu, S. X., et al., Online platform algorithmic control and gig workers’ turnover intention in China: The mediating role of relative deprivation, Journal of Management Science and Engineering, Volume 10, Issue 1, 2025, Pages 37-53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmse.2024.08.004.