Graduates' Rational Choices in Seeking Job Opportunities via Digital Platforms in Buahbatu Village, Bandung Regency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24036/scs.v13i1.926Keywords:
Digital economy, Digital platforms, Gig economy, Rational choice, Social capitalAbstract
The transformation of the digital economy has changed employment patterns in peri-urban areas, including Buahbatu Village, Bandung Regency, Indonesia. This study aims to analyze how secondary and higher education graduates make employment decisions through digital platforms amid limited access to formal employment opportunities. This research employs a descriptive qualitative approach using in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and documentation involving ten graduate informants working in the informal digital sector. Data were analyzed using the interactive model of Miles and Huberman within the framework of James S. Coleman’s Rational Choice Theory. The findings show that graduates choose platform-based jobs such as freelancers, online resellers, content creators, and ride-hailing drivers as a form of adaptive rationality driven by economic needs, work flexibility, and limited access to formal labor markets. Social capital derived from family, peer networks, and digital communities plays an important role in providing job information, reducing uncertainty, and supporting adaptation to the digital economy. The study also finds that platform-based work has undergone a process of social normalization and legitimacy at the local level, where it is increasingly recognized as a valid form of employment. The novelty of this study lies in explaining graduate adaptive rationality in a peri-urban village context shaped by structural constraints in the formal labor market, strengthened digital social capital, and a gradual social legitimation process that transforms platform work from informal activity into socially recognized employment. Overall, digital employment decisions reflect not only economic considerations but also interactions between social structures, relational networks, and evolving work values in the digital era.
Downloads
References
Andini, R., & Yuliani, S. (2023). Adaptasi tenaga kerja muda terhadap sistem ekonomi digital di wilayah perkotaan dan pedesaan. Jurnal Sosiologi Indonesia, 8(2), 112–128. https://doi.org/10.26740/jsi.v8n2
Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupaten Bandung. (2024). Kabupaten Bandung dalam Angka 2024. Kabupaten Bandung.
Coleman, J. S. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Harvard University Press.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
De Stefano, V. (2016). The rise of the “just-in-time workforce”: On-demand work, crowdwork and labour protection in the gig-economy. International Labour Review, 156(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12043
Elster, J. (1989). Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. Cambridge University Press.
Graham, M., Hjorth, I., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2017). Digital labour and development: Impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(2), 135–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1024258916687250
Haryanto, T., & Prasetyo, R. (2023). Transformasi digital dan perubahan struktur pekerjaan di Indonesia. Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Politik, 27(1), 66–82.
Healy, J., Nicholson, D., & Pekarek, A. (2017). Should we take the gig economy seriously? Labour & Industry, 27(3), 232–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2017.1377048
International Labour Organization. (2021). World Employment and Social Outlook 2021: The Role of Digital Labour Platforms in Transforming the World of Work. International Labour Organization
Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika Republik Indonesia. (2023). Laporan Statistik Digital Indonesia 2023. Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika Republik Indonesia
Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2016). The rise of the platform economy. Issues in Science and Technology, 32(3), 61–69.
Kusuma, D. A., & Sari, P. M. (2020). Bounded rationality dalam pengambilan keputusan ekonomi pekerja informal di era digital. Jurnal Ekonomi Dan Pembangunan, 31(2), 189–204. https://doi.org/10.14203/jep.v31i2
Mulyana, D. (2019). Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif. Remaja Rosdakarya.
OECD. (2023). OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2023. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/bb167041-en
Ritzer, G., & Stepnisky, J. (2019). Modern Sociological Theory (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Rohimah, F., & Hidayat, A. (2021). Youth employment in Indonesia’s gig economy. Indonesian Journal of Social Development, 3(2), 100–118.
Santoso, Y., & Lestari, D. (2023). Perubahan nilai kerja pada masyarakat pedesaan di era ekonomi digital. Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Humaniora, 12(4), 345–360.
Schor, J. B. (2020). After the Gig: How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win It Back. University of California Press.
Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69(1), 99–118.
Stanford, J. (2017). The resurgence of gig work: Historical and theoretical perspectives. Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), 382–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617724303
Stewart, A., & Stanford, J. (2017). Regulating work in the gig economy: What are the options? Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), 420–437. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617722461
Sun, P., & Chen, Y. (2021). Platformization and precarious labor in the digital economy. New Media & Society, 23(11), 3293–3310. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820924575
Vallas, S., & Schor, J. B. (2020). What do platforms do? Understanding the gig economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 273–294. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054857
van Doorn, N. (2020). Platform labor: On the gendered and racialized exploitation of low-income service work in the on-demand economy. Information, Communication & Society, 20(6), 898–914. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1294194
Weber, M. (2019). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Free Press.
Wood, A. J., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., & Hjorth, I. (2019). Good gig, bad gig: Autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy. Work, Employment and Society, 33(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018785616
Yuliana, S., & Handayani, I. (2023). Kerja fleksibel dan identitas sosial generasi muda dalam platform ekonomi. Jurnal Transformasi Sosial, 10(2), 129–143.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jurnal Socius
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
