IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-03946497.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Digital work and urban delivery: Profile, activity and mobility practices of on-demand food delivery couriers in Paris (France)

Author

Listed:
  • Anne Aguilera

    (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Gustave Eiffel)

  • Laetitia Dablanc

    (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Gustave Eiffel)

  • Alain Rallet

    (RITM - Réseaux Innovation Territoires et Mondialisation - Université Paris-Saclay)

Abstract

Platform-based on-demand delivery services are rapidly developing in urban areas, especially in the food sector, raising new issues for urban planners, especially in the field of transport. Based on a survey of over 100 couriers conducted in 2018 in the municipality of Paris (France), this work aims at analyzing the profile, delivery activity and mobility practices of the couriers working for these platforms. The main objective is to show how mobility practices are shaped by the characteristics of digital work in the urban delivery sector, and to highlight new challenges for urban authorities and research. Compared to other studies, our work is based on quantitative data and distinguishes three categories of couriers, depending on whether they have another activity: students, people with another paid job, and people with no other paid or non-paid activity. Findings show that these three categories have different characteristics, regarding age, education, residential location, the intensity of delivery activity and the characteristics of mobility practices, especially regarding the transport modes used. The article ends with the discussion of a number of new challenges for both urban authorities and researchers regarding the sustainability of these new forms of digital work in urban delivery.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Aguilera & Laetitia Dablanc & Alain Rallet, 2022. "Digital work and urban delivery: Profile, activity and mobility practices of on-demand food delivery couriers in Paris (France)," Post-Print hal-03946497, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03946497
    DOI: 10.3390/info13090433
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03946497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-03946497/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3390/info13090433?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Egan & Mark Philbin, 2021. "Precarious entitlement to public space & utility cycling in Dublin," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 509-523, July.
    2. Keyju Lee & Junjae Chae & Jinwoo Kim, 2019. "A Courier Service with Electric Bicycles in an Urban Area: The Case in Seoul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Luigi Ranieri & Salvatore Digiesi & Bartolomeo Silvestri & Michele Roccotelli, 2018. "A Review of Last Mile Logistics Innovations in an Externalities Cost Reduction Vision," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Annarosa Pesole & Maria Cesira Urzi Brancati & Enrique Fernandez Macias & Federico Biagi & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez, 2018. "Platform Workers in Europe: Evidence from the COLLEEM Survey," JRC Research Reports JRC112157, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Verhoef, Peter C. & Broekhuizen, Thijs & Bart, Yakov & Bhattacharya, Abhi & Qi Dong, John & Fabian, Nicolai & Haenlein, Michael, 2021. "Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 889-901.
    6. Andrew Stewart & Jim Stanford, 2017. "Regulating work in the gig economy: What are the options?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(3), pages 420-437, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sunarso Radhitya V.P. & Wibowo Budhi S., 2023. "The Impact of Consolidating On-Demand Food Delivery on Sustainability: A Simulation Study," LOGI – Scientific Journal on Transport and Logistics, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 286-297, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heiland, Heiner, 2020. "Workers' Voice in platform labour: An Overview," WSI Studies 21, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    2. Vitalii Naumov & Michał Pawluś, 2021. "Identifying the Optimal Packing and Routing to Improve Last-Mile Delivery Using Cargo Bicycles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Juan Guillermo Urzúa-Morales & Juan Pedro Sepulveda-Rojas & Miguel Alfaro & Guillermo Fuertes & Rodrigo Ternero & Manuel Vargas, 2020. "Logistic Modeling of the Last Mile: Case Study Santiago, Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Irene Bertschek & Joern Block & Alexander S. Kritikos & Caroline Stiel, 2024. "German financial state aid during Covid-19 pandemic: Higher impact among digitalized self-employed," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1-2), pages 76-97, January.
    5. Jacek Buko & Marek Bulsa & Adam Makowski, 2022. "Spatial Premises and Key Conditions for the Use of UAVs for Delivery of Items on the Example of the Polish Courier and Postal Services Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    7. Jinqiu He & Huiwen Su, 2022. "Digital Transformation and Green Innovation of Chinese Firms: The Moderating Role of Regulatory Pressure and International Opportunities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-21, October.
    8. Alkaraan, Fadi & Elmarzouky, Mahmoud & Hussainey, Khaled & Venkatesh, V.G., 2023. "Sustainable strategic investment decision-making practices in UK companies: The influence of governance mechanisms on synergy between industry 4.0 and circular economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Rahat, Birjees & Naqvi, Bushra & Umar, Muhammad, 2024. "Revolutionizing finance: The synergy of fintech, digital adoption, and innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    10. Mohamed Mousa & Walid Chaouali & Monowar Mahmood, 2023. "The Inclusion of Gig Employees and their Career Satisfaction: Do Individual and Collaborative Job Crafting Play a Role?," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1055-1068, September.
    11. Zhipeng Yu & Yi Liu & Taihua Yan & Ming Zhang, 2024. "Carbon emission efficiency in the age of digital economy: New insights on green technology progress and industrial structure distortion," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4039-4057, July.
    12. John Burgess & Julia Connell, 2020. "New technology and work: Exploring the challenges," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(3), pages 310-323, September.
    13. Kun Wang & Bing Chen & Yuhong Li, 2024. "Technological, process or managerial innovation? How does digital transformation affect green innovation in industrial enterprises?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    14. Alex Veen & Tom Barratt & Caleb Goods, 2020. "Platform-Capital’s ‘App-etite’ for Control: A Labour Process Analysis of Food-Delivery Work in Australia," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 388-406, June.
    15. Santana, Monica & Cobo, Manuel J., 2020. "What is the future of work? A science mapping analysis," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 846-862.
    16. Zahoor, Nadia & Zopiatis, Anastasios & Adomako, Samuel & Lamprinakos, Grigorios, 2023. "The micro-foundations of digitally transforming SMEs: How digital literacy and technology interact with managerial attributes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    17. Ponzoa, José M. & Gómez, Andrés & Mas, José M., 2023. "EU27 and USA institutions in the digital ecosystem: Proposal for a digital presence measurement index," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Antonio Farías & Christian A. Cancino, 2021. "Digital Transformation in the Chilean Lodging Sector: Opportunities for Sustainable Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.
    19. Sebastian Kussl & Andreas Wald, 2022. "Smart Mobility and its Implications for Road Infrastructure Provision: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, December.
    20. Suarsana, Laura & Schneider, Tina & Warsewa, Günter, 2023. "Do regional innovation strategies meet societal challenges? A comparative analysis across regions in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Finland," Schriftenreihe Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft 40/2023, Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft (IAW), Universität Bremen und Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ON-DEMAND URBAN DELIVERY; COURIERS; PLATFORM; DIGITAL WORK; GIG WORK; MOBILITY PRACTICES; CITY LOGISTICS; PARIS;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03946497. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.