How can millions of Chinese food delivery riders be managed in an orderly way: Based on the labor process theory

Xiaoyan Xu ,Tianhe Jiang

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202129202018

Abstract

Ordering food through smartphones brings millions of laborers into a new occupation -food delivery rider. To date, insufficient research has focused on this group of population in platform economy. This paper examines the management mechanism of Chinese food delivery industry based on Marxist labor process theory and its extensions. Three main findings are revealed. First, the food delivery platform strictly set online and off-line institutions to manage food delivery riders; second, riders are involved in an illusion of flexitime but indeed provide more labor forces; third, riders are not free as they are constantly monitored by platform’s algorithm driven by big data. Given this, the conclusion suggests that all platform enterprises should abide professional ethnics and undertake social responsibility and to liberate food delivery riders’ nature.

Highlights

Along with the development of Internet technology and the pace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the popularization of smartphones in China has largely promoted development of online food delivery industry
With the promotion of the platform economy, labor control of capital has extended to new industries, such as food delivery services
In the sense of labor process, there is no significant difference in the degree of labor freedom as riders are all subject to the interest-first management philosophy

Summary

Introduction

Along with the development of Internet technology and the pace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the popularization of smartphones in China has largely promoted development of online food delivery industry. One of the new occupations, food delivery rider (hereinafter called “rider”), is recently emerged and rapidly expanding in urban and suburban regions. Considering the number of registered platform accounts in 2019, there were more than 10 million fulltime or part-time riders in China and nearly 40% of them work for Meituan ([1]), China’s largest unicorn company specializing in take-out industry. This high-volume occupation absorbs vast young labor forces, and effectively promotes daily life service, employment structure and urbanization transformation. China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security even defined riders as “new infrastructure” of modern life

Methods

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Conclusion