Legitimacy, voice and power in ride hailing labour movements in Kenya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11489488 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julie Zollmann (0000-0002-2229-5052, Fletcher School at Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 169-194 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Technology Work and Employment (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0268-1072 • E-ISSN: 1468-005X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ntwe.12307 |
| OpenAlex | W4402937777 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 39 |
One way to improve gig work may be to strengthen worker voice via worker organisations. But organising gig workers under economic strain is difficult. In this article, I apply the power resources approach to two related but divergent cases of digital driver mobilisation—Mombasa and Nairobi—to demonstrate the relationship between the cultivation of internal and external legitimacy and the implications each has for different types of power. In Mombasa, association leaders mobilised a majority of local drivers and built internal legitimacy through geographic zone groups, direct communications and democratic norms. This legitimacy enabled them to use structural power, taking direct action against app companies. Unable to build internal legitimacy, Nairobi association leaders instead cultivated external legitimacy through media and politician appeals, using political power to press for regulation. However, workers contested representation by these leaders, raising questions about whether relying solely on external legitimacy increases effective worker voice
Business · Economics · Labour economics · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law
Informal workers in Kenya and transnational organizing
The politics of vulnerability
The Fight Against Platform Capitalism
Matatu
Digitally Enabled Social Change
Trade Unions in Western Europe
The Power Resources Approach
Legitimacy
Managing Legitimacy
Membership Based Organizations of the Poor
Power Resources in Theory and Practice
Informal Workers and Collective Action
A global analysis of worker protest in digital labour platforms
Organizing at the Margins
Between a rock and a hard place
Representation Beyond the State
Do choke points provide workers in logistics with power? A critique of the power resources approach in light of the 2018 truckers’ strike in Brazil
Digital platforms and institutional voids in developing countries
Urban self-employment in Kenya
Too close for comfort? the impact of official aid on nongovernmental organizations
Sceptics or supporters? Consumers’ views of work in the gig economy
Resisting algorithmic control
Employee Representation
Civil Society’s Claims to Political Representation in Brazil
Who Speaks for Whom? (Mis) Representation and Authenticity in Social Movements
Africa's informal workers
Hidden transcripts of the gig economy
Mapping the frontier of theory in industrial relations
Too Good to Be True? A Comment on Hall and Krueger's Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber's Driver-Partners
Good Gig, Bad Gig
Working-Class Power, Capitalist-Class Interests, and Class Compromise
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |