Agony and Ecstasy in the Gig Economy Petriglieri, Gianpiero; Ashford, Susan J.; Wrzesniewski, Amy
Administrative science quarterly,
03/2019, Volume:
64, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Building on an inductive, qualitative study of independent workers—people not affiliated with an organization or established profession—this paper develops a theory about the management of precarious ...and personalized work identities. We find that in the absence of organizational or professional membership, workers experience stark emotional tensions encompassing both the anxiety and fulfillment of working in precarious and personal conditions. Lacking the holding environment provided by an organization, the workers we studied endeavored to create one for themselves through cultivating connections to routines, places, people, and a broader purpose. These personal holding environments helped them manage the broad range of emotions stirred up by their precarious working lives and focus on producing work that let them define, express, and develop their selves. Thus holding environments transformed workers’ precariousness into a tolerable and even generative predicament. By clarifying the process through which people manage emotions associated with precarious and personalized work identities, and thereby render their work identities viable and their selves vital, this paper advances theorizing on the emotional underpinnings of identity work and the systems psychodynamics of independent work.
We propose that a leadership identity is coconstructed in organizations when individuals claim and grant leader and follower identities in their social interactions. Through this claiming-granting ...process, individuals internalize an identity as leader or follower, and those identities become relationally recognized through reciprocal role adoption and collectively endorsed within the organizational context. We specify the dynamic nature of this process, antecedents to claiming and granting, and an agenda for research on leadership identity and development.
This study examines why and when employees might respond to job insecurity by engaging in workplace deviance and developing intentions to leave-2 activities that are costly for organizations. Drawing ...on social exchange theory and the theory of moral disengagement, we propose that job insecurity increases workplace deviance and intentions to leave by encouraging employees to morally disengage. We further propose that the strength of the positive association between job insecurity, moral disengagement, and these outcomes is contingent upon 2 aspects of the situation-employees' perceived employment opportunities outside the organization and the quality of the exchange relationship they have developed with their supervisors (leader-member exchange, or LMX). Two time-lagged studies of Chinese workers provide support for the hypothesized 1st-stage moderated mediation model. Specifically, the indirect effect of job insecurity on organizational and interpersonal deviance and intentions to leave via moral disengagement was positive and significant when individuals had more employment opportunities or when LMX was lower but not when they had fewer employment opportunities or when LMX was higher.
How work gets done has changed fundamentally in recent decades, with a growing number of people working independently, outside of organizations in a style of work quite different from that assumed by ...many organizational behavior theories. To remain relevant, our research on individual work behaviors and the capabilities that enable them must also adapt to this new world of work, the so-called “gig economy.” We first describe the predictable challenges that individuals confront when working in this manner, including remaining viable, staying organized, maintaining identity, sustaining relationships, and coping emotionally. We then articulate a research agenda that pushes our field to focus on the specific capabilities and behaviors that enable people to manage these challenges effectively so as to survive or thrive in this new world of work. Foregrounding individual agency, we articulate the work and relational behaviors necessary for such thriving, and the cognitive and emotional capabilities that undergird them.
This article updates our understanding of the field of job insecurity (JI) by incorporating studies across the globe since 2003, analyzes what we know, and offers ideas on how to move forward. We ...begin by reviewing the conceptualization and operationalization of job insecurity. We then review empirical studies of the antecedents, consequences, and moderators of JI effects, as well as the various theoretical perspectives used to explain the relationship of JI to various outcomes. Our analyses also consider JI research in different regions of the world, highlighting the cross-cultural differences. We conclude by identifying areas in need of future research. We propose that JI is and will continue to be a predominant employment issue, such that research into it will only increase in importance and relevance. In particular, we call for in-depth research that carefully considers the rapid changes in the workplace today and in the future.
This article reviews the individual and organizational implications of gig work using the emerging psychological contract between gig workers and employing organizations as a lens. We first examine ...extant definitions of gig work and provide a conceptually clear definition. We then outline why both organizations and individuals may prefer gig work, offer an in-depth analysis of the ways in which the traditional psychological contract has been altered for both organizations and gig workers, and detail the impact of that new contract on gig workers. Specifically, organizations deconstruct jobs into standardized tasks and gig workers adapt by engaging in job crafting and work identity management. Second, organizational recruitment of gig workers alters the level and type of commitment gig workers feel toward an employing organization. Third, organizations use a variety of nontraditional practices to manage gig workers (e.g., including by digital algorithms) and gig workers adapt by balancing autonomy and dependence. Fourth, compensation tends to be project-based and typically lacks benefits, causing gig workers to learn to be a "jack-of-all-trades" and learn to deal with pay volatility. Fifth, organizational training of gig workers is limited, and they adapt by engaging in self-development. Sixth, gig workers develop alternative professional and social relationships to work in blended teams assembled by organizations and/or adapt to social isolation. Challenges associated with these practices and possible solutions are discussed, and we develop propositions for testing in future research. Finally, we highlight specific areas for further exploration in future research.
We develop and test a multilevel theory explaining how patterns of interpersonal perceptions explain the emergence of informal leadership structures in groups. At the group level, we hypothesize that ...the network pattern of competence and warmth perceptions among group members determines the amount of leadership exhibited (leadership structure density) and the degree to which the emergent leadership structure is centralized or shared (leadership structure centralization). We then identify two individual-level mechanisms underlying these group-level effects: (a) individuals’ identification with the group and (b) the differentiation of leader-prototypical roles within the group. Using social network analysis, we test these hypotheses in a sample of 255 MBA consulting teams working full time on projects in 41 different countries over seven weeks. Our findings establish the emergent nature of leadership structures in self-managing teams and foreground interpersonal perceptions as an explanation for why emergent, informal leadership structures vary across teams.
This article examined a curvilinear relationship between job insecurity and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Drawing from social exchange theory and research on personal control, we ...developed and tested an explanation for employees' reactions to job insecurity based on their conceptualization of their social exchange relationship with the organization at different levels of job insecurity. Using data from 244 Chinese employees and 102 supervisory ratings of OCB, we found support for a U-shaped relationship between job insecurity and OCB. Moreover, 2 factors-psychological capital and subordinate-supervisor guanxi-moderated the curvilinear relationship, such that the curvilinear relationship is more pronounced among those with lower psychological capital or less positive subordinate-supervisor guanxi.
Integrating research on self-compassion with leader identity theory, we propose that leader role self-compassion-a mindset in which a leader takes a supportive, kind, and nonjudgmental stance toward ...himself or herself in relation to challenges faced in a leader role-matters for subsequent leader behaviors and stakeholder perceptions by strengthening leader identity. To test these theoretical ideas, we developed and tested a leader role self-compassion intervention in two field experiments. In the first field experiment, we show that on days when leaders engage in leader role self-compassion, they help others more with both task-related and personal problems because they identify more strongly with their leader role. Consequently, on such days, stakeholders perceive these leaders as more competent and civil. In exploratory analyses, we also find that these effects are stronger for leaders with lower (vs. higher) structural power, suggesting that novice leaders may benefit more from leader role self-compassion. In the second field experiment, we conceptually replicate the effect of the leader role self-compassion intervention on leader identity and establish the distinctiveness of this intervention from other types of interventions. We discuss implications for theory and research.
We examine the effectiveness of economic and moral language used by employees when selling social issues to management. In contrast to prior work finding that employees believe it is best to use ...economic language to influence management to address social issues, we draw on the issue selling, persuasion, and behavioral ethics literatures to demonstrate that moral language is actually most influential-especially when the language is framed to align with the organization's values and/or mission. The results from a combination of 3 field survey studies and 1 experimental vignette study provide support for this hypothesis. In addition, we find support for obligation (i.e., manager's anticipated guilt), rather than inspiration (i.e., manager's prosocial motivation), as a mediator of this interactive effect. We discuss implications for literatures on issue selling, persuasion, and behavioral ethics.
PDF
