Abstract
Under what circumstances does platform work become meaningless? While contemporary discourse on digital platforms largely conceives the promise of micro entrepreneurship, autonomy and flexibility as providing meaningful work, questions remain about the potential meaninglessness of work in the sharing economy. Drawing on the recent turn to meaning-making in contemporary social theory as a lens, we explore the context within which digital platform workers may come to view their work as meaningless within the contingencies of everyday organizing. Data for our inquiry comes from semi-structured interviews with 44 ride-hailing drivers operating in a context marked by an underdeveloped market. Emphasising the active embodied construction of a subjective sense of meaning, we argue that drivers upon platform entry, first construct meanings of ‘platform work’ which, overtime collide with institutional realities to produce experiences of work that remain meaningful for basic survival, but its increasing meaninglessness as a pathway for purpose and sustainable progression becomes elusive. Shedding light on the epistemic gaps between platform promises and drivers' lived experiences, we found that meaninglessness arises through three situated frames: Infantilisation, Illusion of partnership and the zeitgeist appeal, and triggers an enactment of five responses. Appearing deviant in nature, these frames are suggestive of a coping tactic deployed to reclaim agency and power. Our study contributes to the understanding of how distinct geographical contexts fashion the experience of meaningless platform work and the pathways out of such meaninglessness.