Configurações de elementos organizacionais de cooperativas de plataforma

Abstract

Digital platforms have seen tremendous growth over the past decade, organizing economic peer-to-peer transactions and impacting multiple domains. This trajectory is marked by controversy, as, while digital platforms generated a great volume of wealth by mobilizing service providers and private resources, the growing dominance of global companies fostered a reaction of contestation. In view of this, the organization of platforms has been rethought, with many future directions being pointed out. One of these directions prescribes the organization of digital platforms according to a cooperative orientation, in which the workers themselves will be responsible for the management and organization of the model, as well as for the definition of the rules to which they will be subject. Cooperative platforms are presented as an alternative capable of reorienting operations in the sharing economy, but there are a variety of formats for organizing these initiatives. The present study therefore sought to understand the organizational elements of cooperative digital platforms. For that, qualitative research was developed, with case studies in three cooperative platforms of the urban mobility sector, organized by the drivers themselves. The study identified that cooperative platforms mobilize organizational elements to establish a decided social order, including cooperative members in the decision-making process. Contrary to previous propositions that cooperative platforms can be considered as partial organizations, which do not mobilize organizational elements because they make use of the social order of the environment, it was found that cooperative platforms are formal organizations structured by organizational elements outlined in the partial organization approach, namely: association, hierarchy, rules, monitoring, and sanctions. Although cooperative platforms were established from social relationships in which there were already aspects of order, the decision on organizational elements made these initiatives complete formal organizations. It is noteworthy that the study suggests the organizational element of the Association as the primary one for the establishment of cooperative platforms. When deciding on organizational elements, cooperative platforms begin to act as organizers of sharing markets, allowing interaction between providers and users and regulating transactions between peers, with the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process. The study adds to the literature empirical evidence from a context that has been widely discussed, but which still lacks practical experiences. The study suggests that association and hierarchy are prominent organizational elements and that the other elements are manifested in the sharing market organized on the periphery of cooperative platforms.