Misbehaving for Deliveroo. How couriers’ digital manipulation boosts the platform’s business

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dc.contributor.authorCini, Lorenzoen
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-30T08:44:44Z
dc.date.available2025-04-30T08:44:44Z
dc.date.issued2025en
dc.description.abstractWorkplace 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.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationCini, L. (2025) 'Misbehaving for Deliveroo. How couriers’ digital manipulation boosts the platform’s business', Organization, p.13505084251334994. DOI: 10.1177/13505084251334994en
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/13505084251334994en
dc.identifier.issn13505084en
dc.identifier.journaltitleOrganizationen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/17366
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSAGE Publications Ltden
dc.rights© 2025, the Author(s). Open Access.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectAlgorithmic controlen
dc.subjectCompliant misbehaviouren
dc.subjectDeliverooen
dc.subjectDigital manipulationen
dc.subjectFood delivery couriersen
dc.subjectLabour process theory (LPT)en
dc.subjectNetwork effectsen
dc.subjectPlatforms' businessen
dc.titleMisbehaving for Deliveroo. How couriers’ digital manipulation boosts the platform’s businessen
dc.typeArticle (peer reviewed)en
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