Food Delivery Eco-System: When Platforms Get Enterprises and Gig-Workers to Implicitly Cooperate

Abstract

Abstract: The gig-economy relies on intermediation platforms that connect customers with gig-workers. The food delivery eco-system includes four actors: platform, restaurant, courier and customer. It differs from other well-studied “gig” platforms such as Uber or Amazon Mechanical Turk as it brings together a business and a gig-worker. Based on our qualitative study involving couriers and restaurants, we demonstrate that a cooperation is needed between restaurants and couriers to perform food delivery. The way platforms are designed does not support this cooperation as it is affected by the waiting times at the restaurants and the rating system. A dedicated space where both couriers and restaurants could directly give feedback and information could enhance their understanding of the situation and thus enable cooperation.