The vulnerability and inequality of on-demand gig workers around the world are epitomised by the insecure rights that arise from the legal implications of their status. They are the biggest victims of capital accumulation under platform capitalism, which has skilfully exploited this worker–employer relationship. The resistance of gig workers is essential to counter the powerful structural control structures of platform capitalism. However, theoretical developments in the ideology and resistance of the industrial relations processes that overshadow platform capitalism and empirical studies of them in non-Western contexts are underdeveloped. This study develops an analytical framework in the process of platform capitalism versus gig worker resistance and examines longitudinal resistance and changes and challenges to platform capitalism. A longitudinal analysis of food delivery boycotts for Malaysian p-hailing gig workers in 2022 and 2024 produced different results and complexities in terms of the robustness and continuity of this resistance. The study finds theoretical fluidity in the robustness of workers’ commodification processes under platform capitalism, the focus on organising motives and demands of resistance, and two routes of resistance to the powerful platform balance of power.
AdamSElianP (2021) Europe pushes new rules turning gig workers into employees. The New York Times, December 9. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/technology/european-commission-gig-workers-uber.html
2.
AdibP (2021) 96 accidents involving p-hailing riders recorded in 2020. News Straits Times, April 18.
AlamiIDixonAD (2020) The strange geographies of the ‘new’ state capitalism. Political Geography82: 102237.
5.
AltenriedM (2024) Mobile workers, contingent labour: Migration, the gig economy and the multiplication of labour. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space56(4): 1113–1128.
6.
ApoueyBRouletASolalI, et al. (2020) Gig workers during the COVID-19 crisis in France: Financial precarity and mental well-being. Journal of Urban Health97(6): 776–795.
7.
ArnoldDBongioviJR (2013) Precarious, informalizing, and flexible work: Transforming concepts and understandings. American Behavioral Scientist57(3): 289–308.
8.
BalliesterTElsheikhiA (2018) The future of work: A literature review. ILO Research Department Working Paper29: 1–54.
9.
BarrNA (1994) Labor Markets and Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: The Transition and Beyond. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications.
10.
BergerTFreyCBLevinG, et al. (2020) Uber happy? Work and well-being in the ‘gig economy’. Economic Policy34(99): 429–477.
11.
BertoliniADukesR (2021) Trade unions and platform workers in the UK: Worker representation in the shadow of the law. Industrial Law Journal50(4): 662–688.
12.
BondAT (2014) An app for that: Local governments and the rise of the sharing economy. Notre Dame Law Review Reflection90: 77.
13.
BoniniTTreréEYuZ, et al. (2024) Cooperative affordances: How instant messaging apps afford learning, resistance and solidarity among food delivery workers. Convergence30(1): 554–571.
14.
CantC (2018) The wave of worker resistance in European food platforms 2016–17. Notes from Below, January 29. Available at: https://notesfrombelow.org/article/european-food-platform-strike-wave (accessed 20 December 2023).
15.
ChanJ (2023) Class, labour conflict, and workers’ organisation. The Economic and Labour Relations Review34(3): 383–394.
16.
CherryMA (2022) Employee Status for “essential workers”: The case for gig worker parity. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review55: 683.
17.
ChestaREZamponiLCaciagliC (2019) Labour activism and social movement unionism in the gig economy. Food delivery workers’ struggles in Italy. Partecipazione e Conflitto12(3): 819–844.
18.
CiniLMaccarroneVTassinariA (2022) With or without U(nions)? understanding the diversity of gig workers’ organizing practices in Italy and the UK. European Journal of Industrial Relations28(3): 341–362.
19.
CroceN (2020) Interrogating the interaction between relative surplus population and forms of economic production: A case study on platform capitalism. International Social Science Review96(2): 1–19.
20.
DavidovG (2017) The status of uber drivers: A purposive approach. Spanish Labour Law and Employment Relations Journal6(1–2): 6–15.
21.
DefossezD (2022) The employment status of food delivery riders in Europe and the UK: Self-employed or worker?Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative law29(1): 25–46.
22.
Department of Statistics Malaysia (2022) Graduates Statistics 2021. Report. July 27 2022. The Office of Chief Statistician Malaysia.
23.
De StefanoV (2016) The rise of the ‘just-in-time workforce’: On-demand work, crowd work and labour protection in the ‘gig-economy’. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal37(3): 471–504.
24.
DonovanSABradleyDHShimabukuroJO (2016) What does the gig economy mean for workers. Available at: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/c768a7f6-106f-4c14-9a4f-822267dc3d78/content (accessed 27 November 2023).
25.
DubalV (2017) Winning the battle, losing the war?: Assessing the impact of misclassification litigation on workers in the GIG economy. Wisconsin Law Review2017: 739–802.
26.
DubalVB (2022) Economic security & the regulation of gig work in California: From AB5 to proposition 22. European Labour Law Journal13(1): 51–65.
27.
Economic Planning Unit (2021) Malaysia digital economy blueprint. Report. February 19 2021. Prime Minister’s Department.
28.
EdwardW (2020) The Uberisation of work: The challenge of regulating platform capitalism. A commentary. International Review of Applied Economics34(4): 512–521.
29.
EmersonRW (2015) Convenience sampling, random sampling, and snowball sampling: How does sampling affect the validity of research?Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness109(2): 164–168.
30.
ErezM (2008) Social-cultural influences on work motivation. In: Work Motivation. New York: Routledge, 524–561.
31.
FadliM (2024) Ensure p-hailing associations part of gig economy commission, says activist. Free Malaysia Today, January 26. Available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/01/26/ensure-p-hailing-associations- part-of-gig-economy-commission-says-activist/
FuruokaFLimBPazimKH (2022) Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the food delivery industry and oligopsony in Malaysia: A lesson from China. In: GafarliE (ed) Proceedings of the Karabakh III International Congress of Modern Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities. 7–10 June 2022, Karabakh, Azerbaijan: IKSAD Publications, 27–35.
34.
GalièreS (2020) When food-delivery platform workers consent to algorithmic management: A foucauldian perspective. New Technology, Work and Employment35(3): 357–370.
35.
GoodmanLA (1961) Snowball sampling. The Annals of Mathematical Statistics148–170.
GreenEGDeschampsJ-CPaezD (2005) Variation of individualism and collectivism within and between 20 countries: A typological analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology36(3): 321–339.
38.
GrybaitėVStankevičienėJ (2018) An empirical analysis of factors affecting sharing economy growth. Oeconomia Copernicana9: 635–654.
39.
HaidarJKeuneM (2021) Introduction: Work and labour relations in global platform capitalism. In: Work and Labour Relations in Global Platform Capitalism. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1–27.
40.
HallidayD (2021) On the (mis)classification of paid labor: When should gig workers have employee status?Politics, Philosophy & Economics20(3): 229–250.
41.
HarunNAliNMKhanNLMA (2020) An experimental measure of Malaysia's gig workers using labour force survey. Statistical Journal of the IAOS36(4): 969–977.
42.
HeeksRGomez-MorantesJEGrahamM, et al. (2021) Digital platforms and institutional voids in developing countries: The case of ride-hailing markets. World Development145: 105528.
43.
HowsonKFerrariFUstek-SpildaF, et al. (2022) Driving the digital value network: Economic geographies of global platform capitalism. Global Networks22(4): 631–648.
44.
HuangNBurtchGHongY, et al. (2020) Unemployment and worker participation in the gig economy: Evidence from an online labor market. Information Systems Research31(2): 431–448.
45.
JohnstonHLand-KazlauskasC (2018) Organizing On-Demand: Representation, Voice, and Collective Bargaining in the Gig Economy. Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 94. Geneva: International Labour Organization.
46.
JoyceSStuartMFordeC (2023) Theorising labour unrest and trade unionism in the platform economy. New Technology, Work and Employment38(1): 21–40.
47.
KagitcibasiC (1997) Individualism and collectivism. Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology3: 1–49.
48.
KaosJ (2022) Transport Ministry officially takes charge of p-hailing industry. The Star, August 2022. Available at: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/08/09/transport-ministry-officially-takes-charge-of-p-hailing-industry (accessed 20 December 2023).
49.
KaroblieneVPilinkieneV (2021) The sharing economy in the framework of sustainable development goals: Case of European union countries. Sustainability13(15): 8312.
50.
KostDFieselerCWongSI (2020) Boundaryless careers in the gig economy: An oxymoron?Human Resource Management Journal30(1): 100–113.
51.
LangleyPLeyshonA (2017) Platform capitalism: The intermediation and capitalisation of digital economic circulation. Finance and Society3(1): 11–31.
52.
LeeB (2023) Estimated 20% of SPM holders expected to become p-hailing riders, says association VP. The Star, June 18. Available at: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/06/18/estimated-20-ofspm-holders-expected-to-become-p-hailing-riders-says-association-vp (accessed 20 December 2023).
53.
LeiY-W (2021) Delivering solidarity: Platform architecture and collective contention in China’s platform economy. American Sociological Review86(2): 279–309.
54.
LeonardiEPirinaG (2020) Uber in the Portuguese gig economy: A laboratory for platform capitalism. Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation14(2): 46–63.
55.
LiangYArolesJBrandlB (2022) Charting platform capitalism: Definitions, concepts and ideologies. New Technology, Work and Employment37(2): 308–327.
56.
LiuCFriedmanE (2021) Resistance under the radar: Organization of work and collective action in China’s food delivery industry. The China Journal86: 68–89.
57.
MarčetaP (ed) (2021) Platform Capitalism – Towards the Neo-Commodification of Labour. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
58.
MohdH (2022) Food delivery blackout: Riders plan nationwide strike starting midnight. Malaysia Kini, August 4. Available at: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/630911 (accessed 14 December 2023).
59.
Momentum Works (2023) Food delivery platforms in Southeast Asia (SEA). Report. January 2023. Momentum Works.
60.
MontgomeryTBaglioniS (2021) Defining the gig economy: Platform capitalism and the reinvention of precarious work. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy41(9/10): 1012–1025.
61.
MoorePVJoyceS (2020) Black box or hidden abode? The expansion and exposure of platform work managerialism. Review of International Political Economy27(4): 926–948.
62.
MuntanerC (2018) Digital platforms, gig economy, precarious employment, and the invisible hand of social class. International Journal of Health Services48(4): 597–600.
63.
PasqualeF (2016) Two narratives of platform capitalism. Yale Law & Policy Review35(1): 309–319.
64.
PasquinelliCTrunfioM (2020) Overtouristified cities: An online news media narrative analysis. Journal of Sustainable Tourism28(11): 1805–1824.
65.
PedersenP (2009) Inclusive cultural empathy: A relationship-centred alternative to individualism. South African Journal of Psychology39(2): 143–156.
66.
PeetzD (2010) Are individualistic attitudes killing collectivism?Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research16(3): 383–398.
PinsofJ (2016) A new take on an old problem: Employee misclassification in the modern gig-economy. Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review22: 341.
69.
PoonTS-C (2019) Independent workers: Growth trends, categories, and employee relations implications in the emerging gig economy. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal31(1): 63–69.
70.
PopanC (2024) Embodied precariat and digital control in the “gig economy”: The mobile labor of food delivery workers. Journal of Urban Technology31(1): 109–128.
71.
PrabuN (2024) 300 Grab riders stage protest, want issues resolved in 5 days. Free Malaysia Times, January 19. Available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/01/19/300-grab-riders-stage-protest-want-issues-resolved-in-5-days/ (accessed 5 February 2024).
72.
QadriR (2023) Algorithmized not atomized: The distributed solidarity of Jakarta's gig workers. International Journal of Communication17: 3899–3918.
73.
RahmanKSThelenK (2019) The rise of the platform business model and the transformation of twenty-first-century capitalism. Politics & Society47(2): 177–204.
74.
RahmanNAAMudaJMohammadMF, et al. (2019) Digitalization and leap frogging strategy among the supply chain member: Facing GIG economy and why should logistics players care?International Journal of Supply Chain Management8: 1042–1048.
75.
RauchDESchleicherD (2015) Like Uber, but for local government law: The future of local regulation of the sharing economy. OSLJ Ohio State Law Journal76: 901.
76.
ReyesA (2024) The porous boundaries of public and private messages: Solidarity networks of Latin American food delivery workers in NYC. Convergence30(1): 471–490.
77.
RiessmanCK (1993) Narrative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc.
78.
Roy-MukherjeeSHarrisonM (2020) The shifting boundaries of capitalism and the conflict of surplus value appropriation within the gig economy. In: Page-TickellRYerbyE (eds) Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy: An Interdisciplinary Analysis. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited, 45–62.
79.
SantosA (2009) Labor flexibility, legal reform, and economic development. Virginia Journal of International Law50: 43.
80.
SchiekDGideonA (2018) Outsmarting the gig-economy through collective bargaining – EU competition law as a barrier to smart cities?International Review of Law, Computers & Technology32(2–3): 275–294.
81.
SchorJ (2016) Debating the sharing economy. Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics4(3): 7–22.
82.
SeidlT (2022) The politics of platform capitalism: A case study on the regulation of Uber in New York. Regulation & Governance16(2): 357–374.
83.
SparkesAC (2005) Narrative analysis: Exploring the whats and hows of personal stories. Qualitative Research in Health Care1(1): 191–209.
84.
StewartAStanfordJ (2017) Regulating work in the gig economy: What are the options?Economic and Labour Relations Review28(3): 420–437.
85.
StraughanERBissellD (2022) Working in the gig economy is boring: Non-encounters and the politics of detachment in platform capitalism. The Geographical Journal188(4): 534–545.
86.
TassinariAMaccarroneV (2020) Riders on the storm: Workplace solidarity among gig economy couriers in Italy and the UK. Work, Employment and Society34(1): 35–54.
87.
The Star (2022) P-hailing: Amendments to transport laws tabled in Dewan Rakyat. Available at: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/10/03/p-hailing-amendments-to-transport-laws-tabled-in-dewan-rakyat (accessed 15 December 2023).
88.
The Star (2024) Establishment of commission ensures gig workers receive due protection, benefits. Available at: https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/03/04/establishment-of-commission-ensures-gig-workers-receivedue- protection-benefits (accessed 16 March 2024).
Todolí-SignesA (2017) The ‘gig economy’: Employee, self-employed or the need for a special employment regulation?Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research23(2): 193–205.
UchiyamaYAkhirMNMWangY, et al. (2022b) Working conditions of online food delivery gig workers from A consumer perspective in China: A lesson for Malaysia. Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations8(2): 324–365.
93.
UchiyamaYFuruokaF (2024) Characteristics of the market structure on-demand app gig economy in ASEAN. JATI-Journal of Southeast Asian Studies29(1): 1–26.
94.
UchiyamaYFuruokaFAkhirMNM (2022a) Gig workers, social protection and labour market inequality: Lessons from Malaysia. Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia56(3): 165–184.
95.
UmneyCStuartMBessaI, et al. (2024) Platform labour unrest in a global perspective: How, where and why do platform workers protest?Work, Employment and Society38(1): 3–26.
96.
VallasSP (2019) Platform capitalism: What’s at stake for workers?New Labor Forum28(1): 48–59.
97.
VandaeleK (2022) Vulnerable food delivery platforms under pressure: Protesting couriers seeking ‘algorithmic justice’and alternatives. In: NessI (ed) The Routledge Handbook of the Gig Economy. London: Routledge, 205–219.
98.
van DoornNBadgerA (2020) Platform capitalism’s hidden abode: Producing data assets in the gig economy. Antipode52(5): 1475–1495.
99.
WalkerAWongC-K (1996) Rethinking the western construction of the welfare state. International Journal of Health Services26(1): 67–92.
100.
WoodAJLehdonvirtaVGrahamM (2018) Workers of the internet unite? Online freelancer organisation among remote gig economy workers in six Asian and African countries. New Technology, Work and Employment33(2): 95–112.
101.
WoodcockJ (2021) The Fight Against Platform Capitalism An Inquiry into the Global Struggles of the Gig Economy. London: University of Westminster Press.
102.
WoodcockJCantC (2022) Platform worker organising at deliveroo in the UK: From wildcat strikes to building power. Journal of Labor and Society25(2): 220–236.
103.
WoodcockJGrahamM (2019) The Gig Economy. A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Polity.
104.
YasihDWP (2023) Normalizing and resisting the new precarity: A case study of the Indonesian gig economy. Critical Sociology49(4–5): 847–863.
105.
YeeXY (2022) ASM tasked to find solutions to address issue of SPM holders not furthering their studies. The Star, August 28.
106.
YuZTreréEBoniniT (2022) The emergence of algorithmic solidarity: Unveiling mutual aid practices and resistance among Chinese delivery workers. Media International Australia183(1): 107–123.
107.
YunusA (2024) Rahmah p-hailing package from as low as RM33, says Fahmi. The Star, January 23.
