Thursday, September 18, 2025
11:30am-1:30pm
Rutgers Club, Livingston Campus
(Lunch provided)
For more information and to RSVP, contact Mingwei Liu at mingwei@smlr.rutgers.edu
Abstract
Organizations increasingly use algorithms to determine who gets hired, how workers are evaluated, and even who gets fired. To examine the implications of organizations’ use of algorithms in the labor process, I conducted a longitudinal study of one the largest digital labor platforms for high-skilled work. I found workers were confronted with and responded to the algorithms controlling them in ways that existing theory does not adequately account for. First, new workers engaged in practices which inadvertently contributed to suboptimal wages and inefficient job matching when then they encountered the “cold start” problem: the algorithm struggled to recommend new workers to jobs primarily because they had no prior rating history. Second, for experienced workers who obtain a rating evaluation, the platform's algorithms create what I call "reputational interdependence": the platform's algorithms share workers' rating scores within and across other digital platforms and organizations, without workers' consent or control. Together, I theorize how algorithms enable platforms to control high-skilled workers within an “invisible cage”: an environment in which organizations embed the rules and guidelines for how workers should behave in opaque algorithms that shift without providing notice, explanation, or recourse for workers. It is ‘invisible’ because organizations can use algorithms to change the rules and criteria for success at an unprecedented speed and scale without notice or explanation. It is a ‘cage’ because these algorithms increasingly control our opportunities without our say.
About Our Speaker
Hatim A. Rahman is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations and Sociology (by courtesy) at Northwestern University. His research investigates how new technology is impacting the nature of work and employment relationships in organizations and labor markets. This research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Academy of Management Annals, and Academy of Management Discoveries. His research and teaching have received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award.
