Algorithmic Control and Perceived Fairness among Platform Workers: Evidence from Pakistan's Gig Economy

Abstract

The current study focuses on the digital labour platforms which have been spreading rapidly, and this has fundamentally reorganized the work patterns in the developing economies, although the psychological and behavioural consequences of work controlled by an algorithm are not well known beyond the Western contexts. In this paper, the authors explore how algorithmic control is connected to the perceptions of fairness among the platform workers in Pakistan, the emerging economy possessing one of the fastest-growing freelance labour markets in the world. Basing on primary survey data provided by 350 active platform workers in twin cities (Rawalpindi and Islamabad) and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0, the results show that the sub dimensions of algorithmic control have a statistically significant and negative impact on the perceptions of fairness among workers, and monitoring intensity, automated decision making, and opaque performance evaluation have turned out to be the most The research adds to the emerging body of literature on platform labour in the Global South, and provides practical suggestions to platform companies and policy makers in Pakistan.

Keywords: Algorithmic Control, Perceived Fairness, Gig Economy, Platform Worker, Pakistan, Smartpls, Digital Labour.