Attitudes Toward and Experiences of Digital Labour in South Africa

Digital labour is viewed as having the capacity to drive the technological and economic development by addressing critical issues that often encountered in African countries like South Africa, such as high unemployment, low local wages, lack of local demand and others. As such, it is seen as a crucial steppingstone towards (South) Africa’s move towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). However, digital labour could also bring significant drawbacks such as exploitation of workers, unguaranteed or no remuneration. This research investigates the attitudes toward digital labour, intention to participate in digital labour; initial experiences from participating in digital labour and continued participation in digital labour practices. We propose, validate and empirically test a new integrative model, and supplement our model with qualitative findings. Digital workers’ attitudes and experiences toward digital labour did, unsurprisingly, correlate significantly with the intention and participation of people in digital labour with key aspects of digital labour pertaining to the Global South being identified. Most individuals responded positively toward their experience with digital labour, particularly based on the compensation that they expected or experienced for their digital work.