Growth of gig work - short-term tasks organized and mediated by digital labor platforms such as Uber and Upwork - is the focus for an increasing body of research. Yet there has been a lack of ...systematic frameworks that could evaluate this type of labor against decent work standards, and inform consumers and others about relative adherence to those standards across platforms and sectors. In this article we report the development of the "Fairwork framework", based on five decent work principles of fair pay, conditions, contracts, management, and representation. The framework and its associated methodology were first field-tested in South Africa and we report on its use to rate seven gig economy platforms. A league table of platforms was widely publicized and one platform was persuaded to improve working conditions. We reflect on the use and content of the framework, and its role in future action research on decent gig work.
Purpose Despite the popularity of gig employment amid the changing business landscape, gig scholarship is somewhat limited and the untold reality about gig is yet to be fully revealed. This study ...aims to critically address the nature of gig employment, its ambiguities, evolution, theoretical premises and the appropriate future road ahead. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a dual analytical approach – bibliometric and thematic analyses. After incorporating the exclusion–inclusion criteria, the authors identified 2,135 articles for the bibliometric analyses by using VOSviewer. Additionally, for the deep-delving synthesis, the authors conducted thematic analyses following Braun and Clarke (2006), based on 351 papers. Findings The findings revealed that gig work, in its different forms, is emerging as an alternative work arrangement with respect to the future of work. This study also identified multilevel perspectives of gig employment along with its holistic nomological network. Finally, this study offers some critical research directions that should help enhance the theoretical and practical strengths of this nascent scholarship in future. Research limitations/implications The review findings are limited in nature owing to the paucity of quality research papers published in the said domain. Practical implications The paper brings more clarity to what gig is and isn’t, along with its critical perspectives from multilevel lenses. Originality/value This paper identifies critical perspectives related to gig work and suggests appropriate directions for future gig work related scholarship.
Theorizing on the longitudinal case study of a Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE), the paper offers a micro-level perspective of the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) in the current context of the gig ...economy. The intent is to suggest individual actions to overcome the gig economy issues based on limitless earnings, insecure work, and low quality of entrepreneurial activities. The paper originally contributes to the knowledge management and entrepreneurial literature and is partly consistent with the results on the extending knowledge-based perspective for a digital CSE. As a result, the main knowledge used for the development of the firm comes from the personal life of the actors involved in the project mostly. New research avenues are suggested: 1) the real bottom-up strategizing process for CSE; 2) the managerial level actions to induce entrepreneurial initiatives within a CSE; 3) the gendered aspect of CSE embedded in the new digital, social expanded KBV framework.
Objective Gig work, also known as short-term, contract work and non-traditional work has shaped gig economy, however, the research related to gig workers needs further exploration. This empirical ...study explores the motivations, challenges, quality of life, stress and well-being of gig workers.Method Drawing from previous literature a conceptual framework was created. A quantitative approach involving 347 gig workers was employed to conduct this study. A structured interview was used to identify the motivations, challenges, stress, quality of life and well-being of gig workers involved in different gig work such as car driving, salon service or item delivery service. The collected data was analyzed using AMOS software.Results It was noted that motivation positively impacts quality of life and has a positive effect on well-being of gig workers. On the contrary, challenges have a negative influence on stress and a subsequent negative effect on well-being. Further, stress and quality of life had a mediating role and gig workers attributes moderated the relationship of well-being with motivations and challenges.Conclusion Based on the outcome, gig work characteristics can be modified, and management practices can be improved to motivate gig workers, reduce the challenges and to improve their wellbeing.
Since 2016, mobilizations of gig workers across European countries have become increasingly common within location-based services, such as food delivery. Despite remarkable similarities in workers’ ...mobilization dynamics, their organizational forms have varied considerably, ranging from self-organization, to work councils, to unionization through rank-and-file or longstanding unions. To start making sense of this diversity in organizing practices, we compare two cases of mobilization in the food delivery sector: in Italy, where workers have initially opted for self-organization, and in the UK, where they have organized through rank-and-file unions. Drawing on interview and observational data gathered between 2016 and 2018, we find that the diversity of organizational forms across the two cases derives from the interaction between agential and contextual factors, namely: the capabilities of rank-and-file unions and the political tradition of militant organizing of the environment within which gig workers are embedded. These findings contribute to the emerging debate on labour relations in the gig economy by showing the central role that factors external to the labour process and to the institutional context play in shaping the structuring of labour antagonism in a still lowly institutionalized sector characterized by transnationally homogenous challenges.
•We re-wrote much of our verbiage that cited other studies to eliminate potential plagiarism issues.•We used quotation marks to differentiate the cited studies verbiage compared to our phrasing of ...such works.
The popular and academic press reports recent and future major decreases in accounting enrollment to the detriment to accounting faculty and the firms that hire our students. Based upon a major review of the literature and our own experiences, we discuss this matter in depth and suggest means to reverse these trends. For example, we suggest that the CPA profession stress that (1) while earning lower starting salaries, experienced accountants often earn significantly higher salaries than other business majors; and (2) accountants can more likely own equity in their employers’ businesses as compared to other, competitive business fields.
We also discuss how the (1) Generation gap’s (e.g., members of Generations X and Z) viewpoints compare to baby boomers; (2) major trends in the gig economy affect this shortage; (3) some affects of technology; and (4) need for personal growth affects this shortage—and how the profession can capitalize on these trends.
Our paper should help academe and the profession spur quality students to major in accounting and help improve the latter group attract and retain new accounting majors. After all, new, competent accounting majors form the basis for our future, if not our survival.
This article describes a new concept called the errand economy. It examines the dark side of the platform economy and the gig economy and makes a valuable contribution to the field. The concepts, ...especially for liberal scholars, hide the negative impact of platform capitalism on production relationships and the working class by emphasising digital technologies and piecework. The errand economy, however, especially highlights the degradation of labour, regardless of its qualifications, alongside processes such as flexibilisation, precarisation, and informalisation. That is because, under the conditions of the errand economy, platforms treat all types of work as cheap, worthless and degraded errands. The main mission of the platform economy is to end employment by using the discourse of flexibility and entrepreneurship and to transform all employees into errand workers by classifying them as self-employed. For this reason, the article proposes to use the concept of the errand economy together with the platform economy, which refers to digital infrastructures, and the gig economy, which emphasises the piecework.
Abstract
Work in the gig economy is championed by platform organizations as affording individuals the flexibility to decide when, where, and how much they wish to work. The reality is more complex. ...In app‐based gig work, we propose the concept of “algorithmic HRM control,” which acts as an omnipresent and distinctive control system that differs from traditional forms of control in two significant ways: first, the reliance upon, and pervasiveness of, algorithmic technologies in its enactment; and second, the substantial direct and indirect influence of non‐organizational parties in controlling workers. Through a qualitative research design, this article delineates the scope of algorithmic HRM control in allocating and coordinating tasks, managing performance and rewards, and aligning the actions of workers with organizational objectives. Our analysis also unpacks the rigidity and complexities of the control system, as experienced by workers, and the influential role of non‐organizational parties in exerting unique, distinct forms of control. In so doing, we build upon emerging research on the duality of algorithmic HRM by revealing the inherent flaws or challenges from the perspective of the most central party—the gig worker. While output‐oriented control is pervasive, process and normative control elements are also found to exist in some scenarios, creating significant concerns for workers.
Innovative technologies promise a brave new world of convenience and cost effectiveness - powered by cameras that monitor our movements, sensors that line our streets, and algorithms that determine ...our resource allocation - but at what cost? The first collection of its kind, this groundbreaking volume brings together social, economic, and cultural insights to enhance our understanding of the ongoing technological upheaval in cities around the world.
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