The Gig Economy: Insights into Worker Experiences in the UK and Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The present thesis critically examines the operational practices of gig economy platforms in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, using data gathered from 21 semi-structured interviews with gig workers in both countries. Leveraging frameworks based on institutional theory, the study reveals that these platforms, loosely termed ’institutional chameleons’, do in fact, adapt to different socio-economic and regulatory contexts, yet their policies do not necessarily align with the well-being of the workers. The UK context expectedly highlights issues like limited work opportunities, inadequate wages, and a lack of robust social protections, challenging the prevailing narrative of freedom and flexibility in gig work. However, it also unexpectedly unveils a certain degree of job stability and longer, satisfying tenures amongst the workers interviewed, suggesting a nuanced landscape of gig work in the UK. Contrastingly, in Saudi Arabia, the gig economy under lax regulation exposes a landscape fraught with precariousness, instability, and exploitation, particularly for expatriate labor. Moreover, due to the country’s highly restrictive labor policies, gig platforms operate in ways that not only disregard but actively discriminate against their workforce, in ways that are uniquely peculiar to the Saudi context. These findings signify the urgent need for updated labor rights and protection frameworks that are sensitive to the unique challenges and diverse operational models of digital labor. This study calls for governmental intervention, the empowerment of worker organizations, and labor laws that anticipate future work dynamics to prevent further exploitation. The research acknowledges its limitations, including a potential sampling bias, its focus solely on delivery platforms, and the inherent difficulties in drawing direct comparisons across diverse socio-economic contexts. It thereby calls for future research to widen the scope of the investigation to other facets of the gig economy and different geographical regions. Such extensions are crucial to deepen our understanding of the global dynamics of gig work and fill the existing gaps in the current scholarly body of work.