Gig work allows for an individual to work as an independent contractor through online platforms and enter into informal agreements with certain on-demand companies. This allows for the flexibility of deciding one's own hours and only reporting to themselves and a digital platform. These apps deteriorate the relationship between the gig workers and organizations with in-store managers and human resources. Despite this, these independent contractors are thrown into organizational settings without personal guidance.

This project draws on ethnographic data to investigate how gig workers learn to navigate these settings and how they shape experiences in the gig economy. Specifically, this project focused on the grocery delivery app, Instacart, and its relationship with supermarket chains to understand how workers navigate the logic of app-based algorithmic control within the context of existing organizational settings: the grocery stores in which they shop