Informal Learning and Digital Work in the Global South: A Grounded Theory Study of Upskilling Among Nigerian Crowdworkers in Tech Hubs.

This thesis explores how informal learning and upskilling unfold among Nigerian Crowdworkers within tech hub environments. In the context of expanding digital labour markets across the Global South, the study addresses a critical gap in understanding how skills are acquired and shared outside formal institutions, particularly among precarious digital workers. The research is guided by four questions that examine: (1) the motivations and constraints influencing upskilling, (2) the forms of informal learning that emerge through participation in crowdwork, (3) the role of tech hubs’ spatial and social structures, and (4) the professional, social, and financial outcomes of these processes.
Drawing on a Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology, the study is based on in-depth interviews with 44 Crowdworkers across five tech hubs in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. The analysis generated four core categories: Economic Condition, Personal Goal and Ambition, Context of Training and Support, and Enabling Culture and Practice, which together informed the development of a new conceptual model: the Ubuntu Learning Loop (ULL).
The ULL conceptualises informal learning as a cyclical, culturally grounded process driven by motivation, peer support, application, and communal reciprocity. It challenges dominant individualised models of learning by foregrounding collective responsibility, ethical obligation, and social embeddedness as key drivers of upskilling. The model draws on African philosophies of Ubuntu and offers a Southern theorisation of informal learning that centres lived experience, relational knowledge, and moral economies.
The study makes empirical, theoretical, methodological, and conceptual contributions to the fields of digital labour, informal learning, and Global South scholarship. It provides actionable insights for tech hub leaders, policymakers, educators, and platform designers seeking to support inclusive, context-sensitive learning ecosystems in digitally mediated informal economies while contributing to ongoing efforts to decolonise knowledge production in learning and work research.