TITLE:
Beyond the Dyad: The Multi-Stakeholder Psychological Contract Framework for Digital Labour Platforms
AUTHORS:
Amena Shahid
KEYWORDS:
Psychological Contract, Digital Labor Platforms, Algorithmic Management, Multi-Stakeholder Governance
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.14 No.5,
September
3,
2026
ABSTRACT: Digital labor platforms have significantly transformed employment relationships by replacing traditional managerial oversight with algorithmically mediated coordination systems. Although psychological contract theory has long provided a powerful framework for understanding perceived obligations between employees and organizations, its foundational assumption of a dyadic employment relationship limits its applicability in platform work environments characterized by multiple interacting stakeholders. This conceptual paper reconceptualizes psychological contracts in digital labor platforms through the Multi-Stakeholder Psychological Contract (MSPC) framework. Based on HRM theory, platform work research, and new research on algorithmic management, the paper proposes that psychological contracts are made and evaluated through a network of relationships between platform companies, consumers, algorithmic systems, regulatory bodies, and worker communities. Building on this perspective, the paper introduces the psychological contract complexity continuum and advances four formal propositions that explain how workers cognitively integrate multi-actor signals, how algorithmic opacity shapes breach perceptions, how institutional regulatory shifts reframe contractual referents, and how collective embeddedness moderates contract evaluation. Implications for HRM theory, organizational practice, and future research are discussed.