Mapping the Determinants of Gig Worker Well-Being: An ISM-MICMAC Approach

The gig economy is growing quickly and revolutionizing labour markets by enabling flexible, task-oriented jobs, but at the same time brings very serious questions about well-being of workers, earnings, and occupational safety. The study analyses the structural dependencies of the prominent determinants influencing the gig workers' wellbeing by applying the techniques of ISM and MICMAC analysis. Ten key factors were identified based on literature review and expert consultation: flexible working, income, occupational hazards, precariousness, work protections, platform reliance, regulatory intervention, job security, job loyalty and well-being. ISM was utilized to develop a multilevel hierarchical ISM-induced model to identify the causality and directionality of the variables, and MICMAC analysis classified them as per their driving and dependence power. The results suggest that worker well-being is an outcome that is heavily contingent on foundational drivers such as income stability, and the conditions of work, with the agency of workers being a critical mediating device, regulatory interventions and worker protections being necessary. The study presents a full framework to characterise the multifaceted dynamics of gig work and provides practical implications for all stakeholders involved in the development of more sustainable and fair labour systems in the future.