Algorithmic Management and Platform Workers' Ethical Challenges

HRMARS - The rapid expansion of digital labour platforms has transformed the nature of work, offering flexibility and new economic opportunities while raising significant ethical concerns for platform workers. This narrative review synthesises literature published between 2021 and 2025 to identify and analyse the ethical challenges faced by workers in this sector. Relevant studies were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science, supplemented by backward and forward citation tracking, using keywords and their synonyms related to digital labour platforms, ethics and platform work. The selection process prioritised sources with substantial conceptual or empirical contributions from multidisciplinary perspectives, including law, sociology, and labour studies. Thematic synthesis was employed to organise findings into six themes: algorithmic opacity, distributive injustice in pay, lack of autonomy, precarity in well-being, bias and discrimination and lack of rights and protection. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the ethical dimensions of platform-mediated labour and provide insights for policymakers, scholars, and stakeholders in shaping fairer and more sustainable platform work environments.