The effect of algorithmic management and workers’ coping behavior: An exploratory qualitative research of Chinese food-delivery platform

While algorithmic management provides new options for organizing service work, it is underexplored in tourism and hospitality research. From food-delivery platforms in China, this qualitative study sources interviews and online reviews to explore the impact of algorithmic management on workers' service behavior and how they cope in response. Our study uncovers an algorithm-human hybrid approach for managing workers, where algorithms and humans function distinctly but complement each other. Algorithmic management influences deliverers’ work either positively, by improving service efficiency, reliability and customer-orientated behavior; or negatively by causing impersonal service behavior, frequent service recovery and extra-role workload. Deliverers employ both problem-focused (i.e., compliance, flexible response and resistance) and emotion-focused (i.e., relief) coping strategies in algorithmic management. In addition to individual resistance, we firstly revealed that deliverers collude with other parties to resist the algorithms. We proposed a conceptual framework that contributes to understanding the dynamic, mutual relationship between algorithms and workers.