Workplace interactions are significant for shaping individual self-formation and organizational identification. With the emergence of the platform economy, traditional workplace dynamics have shifted towards more impersonal and transient interactions, raising questions about how platform workers establish coherent identities while navigating such interactions. This study investigates the impact of these interactions on self-identity formation among UK food delivery platform workers. Through qualitative interviews with 47 food delivery riders and an immersive 35-weeks long ethnography, our research reveals an unexpected trend. Contrary to heavily relying on external interactions for identity formation, workers tend to simply disidentify from external stakeholders involved in their work processes after experiencing feelings of not fitting in with them. Instead, they find strong internal connections among themselves based on shared social traits and focus on the inner dimensions of peripheral job elements to reconstruct their shaken identities. This approach allows them to cultivate a sense of pride and resilience. This paper contributes to the literature by challenging conventional anchors of occupational identity like organizational and customer identification. It further connects occupational identity research with the emerging platform literature and highlights the influence of minority status on platform work identity.
