{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,15]],"date-time":"2026-08-15T04:29:11Z","timestamp":1786768151348,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786579200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Ministry of Education's Humanities and Social Sciences Project","award":["23YJA790067"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23YJA790067"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007128","name":"Shaanxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2023-JC-YB-621"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023-JC-YB-621"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007128","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behav. Sci.","Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Algorithmic management is central to platform gig work, but its distinct forms of control may relate differently to worker strain. We examine these relationships in food delivery, a typical form of platform gig work. In this setting, algorithms continuously allocate tasks, track performance, evaluate workers, and shape behavior. The Stressor\u2013Strain\u2013Outcome (S-S-O) model provides the overarching framework. The Job Demands\u2013Resources (JD-R) perspective explains why the three control dimensions may show different associations, while cognitive appraisal theory provides a supplementary lens. Specifically, the study links standardized guidance, tracking evaluation, and behavioral constraints to work engagement through role stress and emotional exhaustion, with overall social support as a moderator. Survey data from 608 food-delivery workers were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with 5000 bootstrap resamples. Standardized guidance was negatively associated with role stress and emotional exhaustion, whereas tracking evaluation and behavioral constraints were positively associated with both. Role stress and emotional exhaustion each carried significant indirect associations with work engagement; the serial indirect associations were significant but small. Overall social support strengthened the positive associations of tracking evaluation and behavioral constraints with both strain variables. For standardized guidance, however, higher support strengthened, rather than weakened, the negative associations with strain. Predictive assessment, control-variable models, and covariance-based SEM sensitivity analyses produced broadly consistent findings. These results show that distinct forms of algorithmic control relate differently to strain. Because the data are cross-sectional and were collected from food-delivery workers, causal and temporal inferences, as well as generalization across occupations, remain limited.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16081392","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T17:01:35Z","timestamp":1786640495000},"page":"1392","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Perceived Algorithmic Control and Work Engagement in Platform Gig Work: Asymmetric Pathways via Role Stress and Emotional Exhaustion"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-6162-5108","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chunna","family":"Shi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xi\u2019an Technological University, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Di","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xi\u2019an Technological University, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junping","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xi\u2019an Technological University, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianping","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xi\u2019an Technological University, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xi\u2019an Technological University, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yong","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xi\u2019an Technological University, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"113","article-title":"Labor order under digital control: A study of labor control among food-delivery workers","volume":"35","author":"Chen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sociological Studies"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"300","DOI":"10.1097\/00006842-197609000-00003","article-title":"Social support as a moderator of life stress","volume":"38","author":"Cobb","year":"1976","journal-title":"Psychosomatic Medicine"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"82","article-title":"Role stress in organizations: An integrated framework and future directions","volume":"28","author":"Cui","year":"2014","journal-title":"Soft Science"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"499","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-9010.86.3.499","article-title":"The job demands-resources model of burnout","volume":"86","author":"Demerouti","year":"2001","journal-title":"Journal of Applied Psychology"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15136","DOI":"10.5465\/AMPROC.2024.15136abstract","article-title":"A dual-pathway model linking algorithmic management to employee work engagement","volume":"2024","author":"Deng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Academy of Management Proceedings"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"114","DOI":"10.1111\/1748-8583.12258","article-title":"Algorithmic management and app-work in the gig economy: A research agenda for employment relations and HRM","volume":"30","author":"Duggan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Human Resource Management Journal"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1887","DOI":"10.1108\/IMDS-06-2016-0248","article-title":"Testing moderating effects in PLS path models with composite variables","volume":"116","author":"Fassott","year":"2016","journal-title":"Industrial Management & Data Systems"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1177\/002224378101800104","article-title":"Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error","volume":"18","author":"Fornell","year":"1981","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1744-6570.2008.00113.x","article-title":"A meta-analysis of work demand stressors and job performance: Examining main and moderating effects","volume":"61","author":"Gilboa","year":"2008","journal-title":"Personnel Psychology"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hair, J. 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