A Study Of The Construction Of Professional Identity In The Short-Form Video Virtual Community Of Delivery Riders With Hearing Impairments

The development of mobile internet technology has enabled new industries and created many job opportunities.As a typical type of work on demand,delivery riders’ occupation flexibility and low skill threshold provide new opportunities for people with hearing impairments to break the difficult employment situation.As an emerging medium,the short-form video platform has attracted many users to record their lives with the authenticity of audio and visuals.Delivery riders with hearing impairments have formed a virtual community of them through various interactions on the Kwai short-form video platform.However,delivery riders with hearing impairments,as a typical representative of individuals with disabilities joining the gig economy,will face the dual occupational dilemma of being a delivery rider and a disabled person simultaneously in their work experience,leading to complex and unique occupational characteristics.This study used the social identity theory as a lens to understand the specific interactions and characteristics of delivery riders with hearing impairments in the short-form video virtual community.The study also explored the role of community members and short-form video platforms in the construction of the professional identity of delivery riders with hearing impairments to promote the understanding of the community of delivery riders with hearing impairments with a seven-month participatory observation of a short-form video virtual community of delivery riders with hearing impairments and semi-structured interviews with 15 delivery riders with hearing impairments.Hence,this study provides reference for short-form video platforms to regulate the construction of virtual communities,maintain the operation of virtual communities and enhance the experience of platform users,and can promote public understanding of the community of delivery riders with hearing impairments and promote the development the progress of people with disabilities and social equityThe study found that the delivery riders with hearing impairments’ virtual community supported community members regarding emotion,information,and technology use.By creating and sharing career-related videos on the short-form video platform,discussing career challenges in the video comment section,interacting in the live room and live chatting online,and creating video tutorials to guide people with hearing impairments to be delivery riders with sign language,community members help each other to cope with the challenges of their careers and build a positive professional identity.The delivery riders with hearing impairments’ virtual community is characterized by flexible and diverse professional identity construction in their interactions.The short-form video platform helps delivery riders with hearing impairments form online and offline rider teams and becomes an agent to fuse community members’ virtual and real interaction.Delivery riders with hearing impairments achieve positive distinctiveness in the virtual community through downward comparisons with factory workers and upward comparisons with hearing riders.Through the flexible use of strong social media,represented by WeChat groups,and weak social platforms,represented by short-form video platforms,delivery riders with hearing impairments realize the need to belong to their occupational group.Delivery riders with hearing impairments use the media characteristics of short-form videos platform to build a virtual community of mutual support and reciprocity.However,the community’s social support is only from a single source,and the organization is loose.Based on these findings,this study suggests that delivery riders with hearing impairments make full use of the various resources in the short-form video platform to strengthen the organizational capacity of the community,achieve dialogue with the mainstream,break the marginalized and stereotyped cognitive gaze to promote social concern,understanding and support for gig workers with disabilities to obtain social support from more actors.