Purpose

While digital labour platforms are being increasingly studied across the Global South, the existing literature does not conceptualise the theoretical link between such platforms and socio-economic development. This paper theorises such a link drawing on the notion of institutional voids defined, as in Khanna and Palepu (2010), as “the absence of intermediaries to efficiently connect buyers and sellers” in an economy. We frame digital labour platforms as means to fill institutional voids, seeking to create “development” in the form of earning opportunities in contexts of deprivation.

Design/methodology/approach

We draw on an interpretive case study of an online work training project in a deprived region of Pakistan, where members of marginalised communities were trained to become freelancers for global digital labour platforms. We use the notion of market-enabling institutions aimed at filling institutional voids as a lens to study the project's declared goals, examining the extent to which these were met in practice for the workers who participated in the training.

Findings

Our analysis reveals three types of market-enabling institutions–credibility enhancers, aggregators and distributors, and transaction facilitators–through which digital labour platforms seek to fill institutional voids. However, workers' narratives reveal that institutional voids are only partially filled by these platforms, and their perpetuation results in diverse forms of power asymmetries leveraged by clients and owners of the platforms. We also observe the formation of solidarity networks among workers, networks that are intra-familial and societal rather than characterised by formal unionisation.

Originality/value

The paper offers a novel perspective to theorise the link between digital labour and socio-economic development. Applying such a perspective in a Global South context, it also finds the limits of the digital platforms' institutional void-filling potential, highlighting the emergence of power asymmetries and the emerging formation of worker solidarity networks.

中文翻译：

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巴基斯坦的数字劳动力平台：制度空白和团结网络

目的

虽然全球南方越来越多地研究数字劳动力平台，但现有文献并未将此类平台与社会经济发展之间的理论联系概念化。本文利用制度空缺的概念将这种联系理论化，如 Khanna 和 Palepu (2010) 所定义，即经济中“缺乏有效连接买卖双方的中介机构”。我们将数字劳动力平台视为填补制度空白的手段，寻求在贫困环境中以赚取机会的形式创造“发展”。

设计/方法论/方法

我们借鉴了巴基斯坦贫困地区在线工作培训项目的解释性案例研究，在那里，边缘化社区的成员接受了培训，成为全球数字劳动力平台的自由职业者。我们使用旨在填补制度空白的市场促进机构的概念作为研究项目宣布目标的镜头，检查参加培训的工人在实践中达到这些目标的程度。

发现

我们的分析揭示了三种类型的市场赋能机构——可信度增强者、聚合者和分销者以及交易促进者——数字劳动力平台试图通过这些机构填补制度空白。然而，工人的叙述表明，这些平台只是部分填补了制度空白，它们的持续存在导致客户和平台所有者利用各种形式的权力不对称。我们还观察到工人之间团结网络的形成，这些网络是家庭内部和社会网络，而不是以正式工会为特征的网络。

创意/价值

该论文提供了一种新颖的视角来将数字劳动力与社会经济发展之间的联系理论化。在全球南方背景下应用这种观点，它还发现了数字平台填补制度空白潜力的局限性，突出了权力不对称的出现和工人团结网络的新兴形成。