Identity and Precarity: Personhood in India's Non-Traditional Gig Workspaces

SWASTIKA SRIVASTAVA; PAVANI TYAGI

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.79304

Identity and Precarity: Personhood in India's Non-Traditional Gig Workspaces

Author(s)	Ms. SWASTIKA SRIVASTAVA, Ms. PAVANI TYAGI
Country	India
Abstract	The paper presents a critical systematic review of research on identity, personhood, and precarity among platform-based gig workers in India, examined through an Industrial and Organizational Psychology lens. As digitalization reshapes the nature of work, the gig economy represents a rapidly expanding frontier of technologically mediated labour raising urgent questions about worker well-being, psychosocial dignity, and sustainability. Employing a structured systematic review of empirical literature published between 2000 and 2025, academic databases including Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis, ScienceDirect, and PubMed were searched using relevant keywords. The study examines how algorithmic management and digital platforms function as de facto management systems, shaping workers’ psychological well-being, sense of personhood, and relational dignity in ways conventional organizational frameworks are yet to adequately address. Precarity is reconceptualised not merely as financial instability but as a multidimensional psychosocial condition with profound implications for worker identity and organizational behavior. The review finds that workers draw upon informal solidarities and indigenous cultural frameworks to sustain dignity and personhood within algorithmically controlled environments. Drawing on indigenous perspectives, the paper foregrounds the Bhagavad Gita’s teachings on Karma Yoga and the ethic of “Work is Worship” exploring how gig workers invoke this cultural belief to sustain their sense of self even as platforms reduce them to ratings and replaceable labour. By synthesising interdisciplinary literature, the paper proposes a human-centred, culturally responsive framework for workplace well-being, contributing to conversations on the changing nature of work, indigenous perspectives on duty and wellbeing, and psychosocial dimensions of platform employment in India.
Keywords	Algorithmic Management, Gig Economy, Indigenous Perspectives, Platform Work, Psychosocial Well-being
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-06-16
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.79304

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Identity and Precarity: Personhood in India's Non-Traditional Gig Workspaces

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