This paper seeks to advance understanding of how workers identify themselves in the context of platform work in which employment status is debatable and how such identity perceptions intertwine with their experiences, their attitudes, their behaviors and wellbeing at work. Through a study of food delivery platform workers in Finland, we uncover the complexity of identity perceptions in platform work. Specifically, we find that platform workers identify themselves along the statutory identity spectrum (concerning employment status) in three different ways that we named as the Donkeys (employees), the Entrepreneurs (self-employed), and the Elves (a liminal state between employee and self-employed). Workers in these identity groups experience platform work differently and their wellbeing, behaviors and attitudes differ too. With these findings, we add more insights to the literature on work identity in the context of platform work that has so far predominantly focused on online labour market where skilled workers take on simultaneously multiple roles. Furthermore, we fill in the gap of knowledge in platform work literature at psychological level. By zooming into identity perceptions, our study examines underlying reasons for the dynamic of platform labour and highlights the liminal state experienced by some of the platform workers. In so doing, our study contributes also to the literature on liminal identity. Finally, our study advances the understanding of low-status platform work, thereby complementing the existing knowledge on skilled gig workers who usually enjoy a higher status on the online labour market.
