Metrics as Identity Baits: Perpetuation of Hope Labor Through Quantified Metrics | Research Seminar with Farnaz Ghaedipour

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Highly competitive labor markets, characterized by extreme outcome inequality, present a theoretical and empirical puzzle regarding why individuals persist despite chronic precarity and repeated failure. Existing research emphasizes extrinsic rewards (e.g., financial incentives, status) or intrinsic motivations (e.g., passion, identity) but inadequately explains sustained engagement under prolonged adversity. Through an inductive study of Instagram content creators, comprising 50 semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and archival data, this paper introduces “identity baiting” as a control mechanism that perpetuates workers’ engagement in highly competitive labor markets. Identity baiting describes a recursive, technology-mediated mechanism of organizational control that leverages intermittent affirmation of aspirational identities via quantified evaluative metrics, triggering cyclical experiences of hope and fear that fuel continued participation in free or underpaid labor. By shedding light on how platforms mobilize quantified metrics to perpetuate individualized identity projects, this study advances our understanding of identity-based control and highlights the interplay between identity, technology, and persistent engagement in competitive labor markets.

Bio: Farnaz (Naz) Ghaedipour is an assistant professor at York University’s School of Human Resource Management in Toronto. Her research examines how technological shifts—such as the rise of artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and the gig economy—intersect with cultural ideals of work, from authenticity and passion to entrepreneurialism, reshaping both the structure and experience of modern labor.