Top-Up with Driver Digital Money, Transactional Aspirations, and Peerhood, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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Top-Up with Driver Digital Money, Transactional Aspirations, and Peerhood, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia PhD Thesis Sunniva Sandbukt IT-University of Copenhagen Submitted: April 2021 Supervisor: Steffen Dalsgaard PhD Thesis Title and subtitle: Top-Up with Driver: Digital Money, Transactional Aspirations, and Peerhood, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia Author: Sunniva Sandbukt Department of Business IT IT-University of Copenhagen Submitted on: 13 April 2021 Supervisor: Steffen Dalsgaard Professor Department of Business IT IT-University of Copenhagen Cover illustration by Nadiyah Rizki S i Abstract Across the world, people are enlisted in the so-called ‘gig economy’ either as users or providers of digital services. In this thesis, I examine how digital ride-hailing apps in Indonesia, Gojek and Grab, have evolved from transport to a broader platform of financial services, including privately issued e-money, and how they advocate for the expansion of cashless peer-to-peer (P2P) payment systems. I investigate how their driver fleets are configured as an extended social infrastructure of the app environment and how their algorithmic labour management mobilises drivers to facilitate the use of digital payments by customers of the app. I argue that promoting the notion of peerhood by the companies both obfuscates how their apps configure users to participate in new hierarchical exchange relationships, as well as minimizes the companies’ role as intermediary. Since the circulation of money and data is where their profits are derived and the companies advertise themselves as providers of social equity, I further contend that this transactional constellation camouflages the financial interests that these companies have in generating platform activity. During six months of fieldwork in Yogyakarta, between 2018 and 2019, I explored these transactional dynamics by extensive use of the apps and by meeting both their drivers and customers, along with various fintech industry representatives and other local stakeholders. Through this work, I show that the exchange of digital money through these ride-hailing apps constitutes far more than the financial transaction and contains much more than can be summarized in an elegant acronym. ii Summary Across the world, people are enlisted in the so-called ‘gig economy’ either as users or providers of digital services. In Indonesia, this is exemplified by the digital ride-hailing apps Gojek and Grab. In the past few years, both app companies have expanded their platforms from the core of transport to a broader ecosystem of financial services. Central to this development is their integrated payment mechanisms that allow customers to purchase privately issued digital credits known as e-money, which can be used to make transactions and pay for services within the respective platforms. This thesis focuses on the intersecting dynamics of the digital labour platforms and digital payments as manifested in these ride- hailing apps. Specifically, I identify how the algorithmic management and infrastructural arrangements of on-demand labourers affect the circulation of money through the integrated payment system of the digital platforms. These digital platforms operate in a context where a majority of the population do not use credit or debit cards to make digital payments, and the ability to temporarily store money can be a valuable technology. I argue that these ride-hailing companies benefit from their access to a fleet of on-demand drivers who already use the apps to access customers. By reconfiguring the drivers as an extension of the digital app environment, the apps enable drivers to sell their digital credits in return for cash. Thus, they operate as exchange agents: an access point to the digital economy for the app’s customers enabling the circulation of value in the apps. Meanwhile, these financial technology companies leverage arguments of ‘financial inclusion’ as they advocate for the expansion of digital payment services, such as cashless peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. I critically examine how this emphasis on financial inclusion and ‘turn to cashlessness’ can also be understood as a means with by which these financial technology companies grow their customer base. Unpacking this acronym, I explore how the term ‘peer’ introduces social meanings to a transaction, differing, for instance, from that of ‘user-to-user payments’. I argue that this concept obscures the complex relational dynamics involved in such transactions, while also obfuscating the extent to which the intermediary companies that provide the digital infrastructure can influence the conditions of exchange. Thus, this thesis examines how these apps configure the transactional relationship of their users. I argue that the mobilisation of drivers and their digital wallets is done in service of the app’s customers. Drivers not only facilitate exchange, but they also facilitate the existence of a digital payment system by taking on the transactional costs of reconverting digital earnings into cash. I argue that the platform companies benefit from, and reinforce existing socio-economic inequalities, while also introducing new digital hierarchies in pursuit of making their digital services both cheap and convenient to attract customers. Furthermore, I emphasise that this constellation camouflages the companies’ priority of generating transactional activity; app usage leads to the circulation of both money and data, which is where their iii profits are derived. During six months of fieldwork in Yogyakarta, between 2018 and 2019, I explored these transactional dynamics by using the apps and meeting both their drivers and customers, along with various fintech industry representatives and other local stakeholders. Through this work, I show that the exchange of digital money through these ride-hailing apps is about far more than the financial transaction and contains much more than can be summarized in an elegant acronym. iv Resumé Overalt i verden bliver mennesker i stigende grad indsluset i den såkaldte 'gig økonomi' enten som brugere eller udbydere af digitale tjenester. I Indonesien eksemplificeres dette blandt andet af de digitale transport-apps Gojek og Grab. De sidste år har virksomhederne bag disse apps udvidet deres platforme fra transport til et bredere økosystem af digitale finansielle tjenester. Centralt i denne udvikling er integrerede betalingsmekanismer, som giver kunder mulighed for at købe privat udstedte digitale kreditter, såkaldte ’e-money’, der kan bruges til at foretage transaktioner og betale for tjenester inden for de respektive platforme. Denne afhandling fokuserer på dynamikkerne mellem de digitale arbejdskraftsplatforme og digitale betalinger, som de kommer til udtryk i transport-appsene. Konkret identificerer jeg, hvordan brugen af algoritmer og de infrastrukturelle arrangementer for ’on-demand’- arbejdere påvirker cirkulationen af penge gennem det integrerede betalingssystem på de digitale platforme. Jeg hævder, at disse virksomheder drager fordel af deres adgang til en flåde af ’on-demand’ chauffører, der allerede bruger virksomhedernes apps til at få adgang til kunder. Ved at omkonfigurere chaufførerne som en udvidelse af den digitale infrastruktur, gør appsene det muligt for chaufførerne at sælge deres egne digitale kreditter til gengæld for kontanter. Chaufførerne fungerer således som pengevekslere, og dermed et adgangspunkt til den digitale økonomi for appens kunder. Disse teknologier fungerer i en sammenhæng, hvor et flertal af befolkningen ikke bruger kredit- eller betalingskort til at foretage digitale betalinger og hvor muligheden for midlertidigt at indsætte penge digitalt kan være en værdifuld teknologi. Faktisk udnytter de samme finansielle teknologivirksomheder argumenter om 'økonomisk inklusion', da de er fortalere for at udvide brugen af digitale betalingstjenester såsom kontantløse ’peer-to-peer’ (P2P) -transaktioner. Jeg undersøger kritisk, hvordan dette fokus på finansiel inklusion og kontantløshed også kan forstås som et middel, hvormed de finansielle teknologivirksomheder kan udvide deres kundebase. Gennem en analyse af akronymet P2P undersøger jeg, hvordan udtrykket 'peer' introducerer sociale betydninger for en transaktion, der adskiller sig fra f.eks. ’user-to-user’-betaling. Jeg argumenterer for, at konceptet forsimpler den komplekse relationsdynamik, der er involveret i sådanne transaktioner, samtidig med at det tilslører i hvilket omfang de virksomheder, der leverer den digitale infrastruktur, påvirker udvekslingsbetingelserne. Afhandlingen undersøger således, hvordan disse apps konfigurerer deres brugeres transaktionsforhold. Jeg hævder at mobilisering af chauffører og deres digitale tegnebøger – såkaldte ’wallets’ – sker til fordel for appens kunder. Chauffører faciliterer ikke kun udveksling, de muliggør også eksistensen af et digitalt betalingssystem ved at påtage sig de transaktionsomkostninger, der er forbundet med at konvertere digital indtjening til kontanter. Jeg hævder at platformfirmaerne drager fordel af og styrker eksisterende v socioøkonomiske uligheder, samtidig med at de indfører nye digitale hierarkier i deres stræben efter at gøre digitale tjenester både billige og bekvemme for at tiltrække kunder. Desuden argumenterer jeg for, at denne konstellation camouflerer at selskabernes prioritering er at generere transaktionsaktivitet, da dette fører til cirkulation af både penge og data, hvorfra deres profit stammer. I løbet af 6 måneders feltarbejde i Yogyakarta mellem 2018 og 2019 udforskede