EXAMINING THE STRUCTURES OF EMERGING, COOPERATIVE GIG-WORK PLATFORMS

Abstract

In this thesis, my goal was to examine organizational practices of emerging cooperative gig-work platforms. To study these new groups of organizations, I collected interviews from stakeholder in two different cooperative gig-work platforms: Nosh (a restaurant delivery service in Colorado) and the Drivers Cooperative (a ride sharing service in New York City). This thesis used a total of 35 interview: 28 interviews were from various stakeholders of Nosh (including drivers, customers, platform dispatchers, executives, and restaurant owners) and 7 interviews were from members of the Drivers Cooperative. I systematically coded the interviews using a combination of deductive and inductive coding founded on existing literature in the field and patterns in the data. Through the analysis, I found three major groups of findings: 1. commonalities between the two organizations; 2. differences between the organizations; and 3. tensions within the organizations. The major commonalities between Nosh and the Drivers Cooperative are the following: 1. the use of value-based appeals, 2. limitations in economic resources and technology, and 3. oppositional services and values. The major differences between the organization are the following: 1. social relationships; 2. recruitment strategies; 3. methods of social control; and 4. incentive structure. The major tensions within the cooperatives include: 1. unsuccessful attempts at democracy; 2. volunteerism and sacrifice at a for-profit “cooperative”; and 3. free rider problem when financial compensation is more secure. This thesis makes sense of these findings by primarily drawing on literature from Chen (2009), Durkheim (2014), and Rothschild-Whitt (1979b). At the end of the thesis, I make recommendations for future cooperative gig-work platforms based on the findings.