Dimensions of perceived algorithmic control and endorsement of minimum-only execution in platform delivery work

An overall perception of algorithmic control may obscure how specific work experiences relate to emotional reports and minimum-only execution. Drawing on affective events theory, conservation of resources theory, and emotional labor theory, this study examines how control-related work experiences and emotions relate to endorsement of minimum-only execution. Single-wave survey data from 650 platform delivery workers in China were analyzed using ordinary partial least squares structural equation modeling. The primary model jointly includes temporal demands and pace adjustment, response demands and reported responses, and trajectory-recording awareness as separate reflective constructs. Conditional on the other dimensions and both emotional variables, temporal and response dimensions were positively associated with minimum-only execution ( β = 0.339 and 0.242), whereas the trajectory dimension was negatively associated ( β = −0.183). Trajectory-recording awareness was positively associated with exhaustion and feigning; its positive total indirect association accompanied a total association with minimum-only execution that was not statistically distinguishable from zero. Exhaustion and feigning were each positively associated with minimum-only execution, but their conditional association and the indirect associations involving both were nonsignificant. The common-PAC diagnostic further indicated that a single control representation obscured differences in the three dimensions’ external associations. These findings highlight the value of assessing deadlines and pacing, response expectations, and recording practices separately, while considering both workers’ resource depletion and emotional display regulation in platform work design.