Digital ethnography and the labor process in food delivery gig work: a methodological reflection

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Organizational Ethnography

DOI

10.1108/JOE-11-2024-0090

First Page

1

Last Page

16

Abstract

Purpose – This paper seeks to offer a methodological reflection for understanding the usage of digital ethnographic methodologies to study the labor process in platform-based organizations. The objective is to contribute to the ongoing scholarly debate on the value of digital methodologies in studying contemporary organizations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts an autoethnographic approach to provide methodological reflections on the multiple digital methodological approaches employed to study the labor process of food delivery platforms in Mexico City. Findings – The findings illuminate the different digital ethnographic approaches employed to study the labor process in food delivery platforms. This paper highlights three approaches: digital technologies as objects of study, digital technologies as tools for recruitment and data collection and, finally, a practice-oriented approach to studying how workers navigate and interpret digital technologies. The paper is not restricted to a single organizational site but elaborates on how the labor process is sedimented across different spaces exhibiting different levels of virtuality. Furthermore, this paper presents how different digital and physical sites shape and inform one another. Practical implications – The findings offered in this paper provide a potential model for scholars interested in studying the labor process in modern organizations that exhibit high levels of virtuality. Originality/value – Through autoethnographic methodological reflections, this paper offers valuable insight into the usage of digital methodologies to study the labor process in platform-based organizations. This offers a compelling contribution to our understanding of both digital methodologies and the labor process in contemporary organizations.

Keywords

Digital ethnography, Labor process, Platform-based organizations, Traditional ethnography, Work and organizations

Department

Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

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