Driving to Make Dollars and Sense: Self-Narrative Construction under Algorithmic Management

Based on the results of an autoethnographic field study involving 130 hours of personal driving experience as a food delivery driver, in-person and virtual meetings with company representatives, and semi-structured interviews (N = 40) with current rideshare and food/grocery delivery drivers, I elaborate the self-narrative construction process affecting drivers in the on-demand economy. My findings reveal that drivers resist the depersonalizing consequences of algorithmic management by harnessing personalizing experiences that occur in the on-demand workspaces (e.g., driver’s personal vehicle). Specifically, drivers respond to experiences stemming from momentary customer encounters that occur in these intimate spaces by forging temporal connections to their past and desired future selves – aided by fantasy and rationalization at times – in a way that adds structure and agency to their self-narratives. This process, which I call narrative structuring, helps drivers combat identity-threatening aspects of their work and craft a more coherent self-narrative. However, persistent loneliness fuels drivers’ desire for social support and social comparison which drivers satisfy in online sentient communities through a form of storytelling that I call narrative flexing, the identity implications of which depend on the narrative’s intergroup versus interpersonal focus. Overall, I advance theorizing on self-narratives and narrative identity work while illuminating the struggles of a vast, yet understudied class of workers.