Algorithmic Gamification and Gig Workers’ Proactive Service Behaviour: An Attribution Theory Perspective

Algorithmic gamification has become an important tool for gig platforms to shape labour input; however, its relationship with the proactive service behaviour of gig workers remains unclear. Drawing on attribution theory, this study developed a dual-path model linking algorithmic gamification to gig workers’ proactive service behaviour through commitment attribution and control attribution, with algorithmic procedural fairness as a boundary condition. The results indicate that algorithmic gamification is positively associated with proactive service behaviour through commitment attribution and negatively associated with it through control attribution. Further analyses revealed that the indirect effect through commitment attribution was larger in absolute magnitude than that through control attribution, yielding a statistically significant positive total indirect effect. Moreover, algorithmic procedural fairness strengthens the positive association between algorithmic gamification and commitment attribution and attenuates its positive association with control attribution. At high levels of algorithmic procedural fairness, the conditional indirect effect of control attribution was not statistically significant. By examining workers’ attributions of platform intent, this study identifies two mechanisms linking algorithmic gamification to extra-role service behaviour and offers managerial implications for the design of algorithmic gamification on gig platforms.