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With the development of ICT technology, the number of workers who find customers and receive orders through online platforms is rapidly increasing in Korea. Platform workers have the advantage of being able to work regardless of time and place compared to full-time workers. However, platform workers also have concerns about the uncertainty of losing their jobs at any time and frequently experience economic hardship. For example, unlike full-time workers, platform delivery riders are restricted from subscribing to employment insurance because they do not have a contract with the employer. In addition, platform labor has a structure in which the customer's orders fluctuate greatly depending on the customer's rating. So, platform workers tend to voluntarily subordinate themselves by increasing work intensity to avoid low customer ratings. Many studies have stressed these job insecurity can increase precarious workers' powerlessness. Powerlessness means being unable to do anything independently when repeatedly exposed to uncontrollable situations such as job loss, and powerlessness is also a representative factor that increases depression. However, few studies have explored if platform workers’ powerlessness mediate the association between job insecurity and depression; also, if resilience moderate the pathways from job insecurity to depression through powerlessness. Several studies have found that resilience buffers the effects of stressful situations, such as job insecurity, on mental health. Our study extends previous studies by examining the mediation effect of powerlessness and buffering effect of resilience in the study of job insecurity and depression among a group of Korean platform workers.
Methods:
This study consisted of platform workers samples collected from a survey company in June 2022 in Korea. Study participants were recruited from an online panel of platform workers maintained by the company. This survey employed a non-probability quota sampling to have a balanced ratio in job type. We finally analyzed 687 study participants (including food delivery riders 152 cases, quick service drivers 152 cases, replacement drivers 151 cases, taxi drivers 132 cases, and housekeepers 100 cases).
The questionnaire included job insecurity, powerlessness (e.g., No control over what happens to me, The difficulty facing life's problems), depression measured by PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and resilience. Age, education, subjective health status, average monthly income, sleep time, job type were used as control variables. moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS macro v.4.0 (model 7).
Results:
Approximately 36.8% of the sample reported that they experienced depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 cutoff >=10). Mediation analysis indicated that The effect of job insecurity on depression was fully mediated by powerlessness. The index of moderated mediation was significant for the indirect effect of job insecurity on depression through powerlessness (B= -.09, SE=.03, CI [-.17, -.01], indicating that if platform workers have higher resilence, it would reduce individuals' powerlessness, and consequently reduce depression.
Conclusion and Implications:
Our findings suggest that policymakers and practitioners need to design an employment safety net for platform workers (e.g., Employment insurance application) and develop counseling programs, especially EAP (Employee Assistance Program), tailored for a platform worker who works alone without an organization.