Ride-Hailing Drivers' Preferences for Fairwork Principles of Satisfactory Working Conditions and Fair Pay-Profit Distribution and Willingness to Form and Join Worker-Platform Co-Operatives in Kenya

Abstract

Ride-hailing drivers (e-drivers) are among the platform workers who successfully embrace the worker-platform co-operative model's emergence to counter capitalistic ride-hailing platforms and their complex ecosystems, which align with fairwork principles of pay, condition, contracts and (platform) management. This study was conducted to determine the extent of ride-hailing drivers' preferences for satisfactory working conditions, fair pay-profit distribution and willingness to form and join worker-platform co-operatives in Kenya. The study was grounded in the social exchange theory, affective theory of social exchange, and utility theory. The researcher applied critical-realism research philosophy and multimethod research designs of discrete choice experiments and sequential explanatory mixed method research designs. Using the Yamane sampling formula, the study used quantitative data from 497 respondents from sampled 600 of the 20,000 e-drivers in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. The quantitative data was analysed using multinominal logistic regression. Moreover, the study used qualitative data from 11 participants, which was analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that the two fairwork principles were statistically significant to e-drivers’ willingness to form and join worker-platform co-operatives. fair pay-profits distribution (FPD) principle, in particular, was a highly preferred fairwork principle in terms of e-drivers’ willingness to form and join the worker-platform co-operative model (Coeff=1.564, SE = 0.234, Z = 6.67, p< .001), compared to the satisfactory working conditions (SWC) principle (Coeff=0.783, SE = 0.156, Z = 5.012, p< .001). This study brings practical and theoretical contributions to improve the e-drivers’ benefits from the ride-hailing sector. Policymakers, promoters, and platform workers like e-drivers could understand how best to promote worker-platform co-operatives to succeed in the country’s societal context.