Misbehaving for Deliveroo. How couriers’ digital manipulation boosts the platform’s business
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Date
2025
Authors
Cini, Lorenzo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE Publications Ltd
Published Version
Abstract
Workplace misbehaviour has always been troublesome for employers. Workers have often exhibited conducts, such as absenteeism, pilferage, soldiering, sabotage and vandalism, that are foreign to companies’ norms and detrimental to their profits. Hence, various managerial theories have been developed over time with the aim of eliminating them. However, misbehaviour is still observed in the contemporary workplace. This study shows that, in platform work, where workers are controlled remotely by algorithms, platforms no longer seek to eliminate it, but even encourage its proliferation. Notably, it is argued that algorithmic control stirs the generation of specific forms of misbehaviour that are consistent with companies’ interests. Taking Deliveroo in Ireland and Italy as a case study, the paper illustrates how four types of manipulation of the platform’s digital infrastructure performed by couriers (i.e. the utilization of multiple Deliveroo accounts, the utilization of bots, the rental of other people’s accounts, the tricking of Deliveroo’s accounts system) are central to the expansion of its network effects. Building on labour process theory, these acts are referred to as ‘compliant misbehaviour’ – encompassing a set of worker misconducts that violate company-specific norms, but whose effects are fully beneficial to platforms’ economic interests. To develop the compliant misbehaviour concept, the author has carried out qualitative research fieldwork (indepth interviews, daily observation of couriers’ activities, document analysis) in both Ireland and Italy between 2022 and 2023. The theoretical elaboration of this concept is the main contribution of the paper.
Description
Keywords
Algorithmic control , Compliant misbehaviour , Deliveroo , Digital manipulation , Food delivery couriers , Labour process theory (LPT) , Network effects , Platforms' business
Citation
Cini, L. (2025) 'Misbehaving for Deliveroo. How couriers’ digital manipulation boosts the platform’s business', Organization, p.13505084251334994. DOI: 10.1177/13505084251334994