Sexual harassment takes a hidden toll on gig workers

New research finds sexual harassment can affect gig workers’ well-being and job performance, while access to collective support may help reduce harm.

A rideshare driver picks up a passenger who makes repeated unwanted sexual comments. The ride ends, but the experience doesn’t.

The driver may still feel anxious, distracted, or angry long after the passenger leaves. Those feelings can carry into the next ride, affecting how the driver works and interacts with other customers.

New research suggests these encounters can have consequences that extend well beyond the moment. But the findings also point to a potential source of protection: having access to a worker organization or other form of collective support.

Published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, the study examines how harassment affects workers in the gig economy and why having someone in their corner can make a difference.

“Many gig workers do their jobs alone and interact with customers without coworkers, supervisors, or other bystanders present,” says Tianjun Sun, assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice University and coauthor of the study. “In many cases, they are confronting these situations largely on their own.”

Led by Yijue Liang of George Mason University, the research brings together scholars from Rice, Texas A&M University, and George Mason to examine a workplace problem that has received relatively little research attention.

For rideshare drivers, delivery workers, housekeepers, and others who provide services directly to customers, harassment can range from unwanted sexual comments and propositions to inappropriate touching. Unlike employees in traditional workplaces, gig workers may have no supervisor to contact, coworkers to intervene, or clear procedures for reporting incidents.

The researchers identified two distinct psychological responses that help explain how these experiences can affect workers’ behavior.

The first, psychological distress, involves feelings of anxiety, uneasiness, or emotional exhaustion. Workers experiencing this distress may withdraw from their responsibilities, slow down, or put less effort into their work.

The second, known as self-threat, occurs when harassment challenges a worker’s sense of dignity, competence, or control. That response was associated with more negative interactions with customers.

“A harmful customer interaction can drain a worker’s psychological resources in different ways, and those reactions can carry over into how they perform their job and interact with people afterward,” Liang says.

But the research also identified a potentially important protective factor: collective representation.

Across two studies, workers who reported access to unions or unionlike organizations showed weaker harmful indirect relationships between harassment and subsequent workplace behaviors.

Such organizations can provide community, shared experiences, information, and opportunities to seek support—resources often missing from independent gig work.

“For workers whose jobs are structurally quite isolating, simply having access to a collective voice and support system may communicate ‘you are not dealing with this alone’ in a very meaningful way,” Sun says.

The findings also carry implications for companies operating gig platforms. Researchers suggest adopting clearer harassment reporting procedures, allowing workers to rate customers, providing safety information before accepting assignments, and taking stronger action against customers with documented harassment histories.

Beyond company policies, the study raises questions about how workers classified as independent contractors can access meaningful protections and collective support.

For Sun and her colleagues, the research is also a reminder that behind every convenient app-based transaction is a person navigating the realities of an often unpredictable workplace.

“The convenience of the gig economy can make the people providing that convenience almost invisible,” Sun says. “We hope people come away with a better appreciation that gig workers deserve the same basic dignity and safety we would expect in any workplace.”

Source: Rice University

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