Motivation in Sharing Economy-based Service Triads: Case of Uber Operations in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

With the continuous rise of the sharing economy and its sub-components such as the ‘gig’ economy and Sharing Economy-based Service Triads, offering indirect services to the customers through a third party has become the norm for many operations. This has some implications, both on the general service provision and key operational aspects such as how to motivate the service suppliers and who is responsible for that. This study sought to understand the motivation of the service suppliers from a triadic perspective of employer-service supplier-customer rather than the traditional employer-employee perspective. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used, and data was collected using self-administered online questionnaires on the Open Data Kit platform. 50 Uber drivers in Nairobi were interviewed where a response rate of 100% was achieved. Measures of central tendency and dispersion were used to analyze the demographic data while the correlation between motivation and organizational as well as customer related factors was determined using both logistic and linear regressions. The findings showed that Uber has done relatively well in motivating its drivers from the organizational perspective. The drivers were generally contented with the remuneration and reward system as well as the training and development opportunities. The drivers’ working environment though was found to be both physically and mentally straining, but they seemed not to mind it much probably because they self-determined how long and where to work. On the other hand, the findings showed that Uber has not focused as much on motivating its drivers from the customer-related side. Sexual harassment, verbal and physical abuse, discrimination, subjective feedback system, and lack of trust between the customers and drivers were reported. There was clear positive correlation between motivation and reward and remuneration system from the organizational side as well as feedback system and trust from the customer-related side. On the other hand, training and development opportunities, work environment, as well as fair treatment were found to not be significantly correlated to the drivers’ motivation.