Author(s): Mano Ashish Tripathi, Ravindra Tripathi, Shekhar Saroj and Uma Shakar Yadav
Using insights from organisational psychology and studies of platform labour, this research investigates the ways in which platform employees' social and psychological environments shape their cognitive abilities and help them meet the challenges of their jobs. Based on a survey of 500 'riders' in the Indian food delivery industry, we provide quantitative evidence of employees' mixed subjective experiences, expanding on the mostly qualitative description within the context of previous research. We put to the test the complex interplay between job satisfaction, autonomy at work, confidence in one's own abilities, and a sense of personal well-being among employees. Research from our group shows that having social support from people like friends and family as well as online business interactions with colleagues significantly reduces rider stress. Our pattern of platform staff appears to be a method for them to draw on their internal and relational resources to achieve as an alternative an exceptionally high level of intellectual health, despite the well-documented instability and stress of platform work.