In the gig economy, the influence of algorithmic management pressure on gig workers' well-being has drawn increasing attention in both theoretical and practical contexts. Grounded in the conservation of resources theory, the study aims to explore the mechanisms linking algorithmic management pressure to three dimensions of gig workers' well-being, with a particular focus on the mediating role of avoidance job crafting. We conducted a three-wave survey with 321 ride-hailing drivers using an anonymous, structured questionnaire that measured algorithmic management pressure, avoidance job crafting, and well-being. We analyzed the data by using SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.30. Results show that algorithmic management pressure does not consistently undermine well-being outcomes. Specifically, by eliciting gig workers' avoidance job crafting, algorithmic management pressure exhibits a temporally positive relationship with aspects of their life well-being and workplace well-being. However, the hypothesis regarding the indirect effect of the pressure on psychological well-being through avoidance job crafting is not supported. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Gao et al. (Sat,) studied this question.