PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between self-leadership and the work performance of gig workers as moderated by perceived organizational support and mediated by work ...engagement.Design/methodology/approachLinear regression and the Process macro by Hayes were used to examine the hypothesized model, on a data set of 384 gig workers.FindingsThe outcomes indicated a positive relationship between the self-leadership strategies of the freelancers and their work performance. The association of self-leadership and work performance was moderated by perceived organizational support and partially mediated by work engagement.Originality/valueThis study responds to the need for exploration of the moderation and mediating mechanisms through which self-leadership influences how gig workers perform at work.
Abstract This article challenges positive views of the assumed relationships between skills, productivity and rewards in self-employed digital freelancing. It suggests that the upfront investments ...made by freelancers to build up positive platform ratings are not necessarily recouped in the form of increased autonomy, guaranteed work or more lucrative ‘gigs’. Drawing on 38 autobiographical narrative interviews and 12 audio working diaries with diverse online freelancers in Europe, we show how the low barriers to enter platform work provide opportunities for those with limited work experience and other commitments outside of work. However, the intense competition between an ever-expanding pool of (both skilled and unskilled) task freelancers within ‘digital tournaments’ results in the colonisation of worker’s free time, and the normalisation of unpaid labour. This implies that ‘free time’ for freelancers is largely an illusion. Furthermore, the significant ‘sunk costs’ that freelancers make in terms of time, platform-specific skills, reputation and networks are not fully recovered and cannot be transferred to other platforms.
This study investigates work schedules in online labour markets, operating in 24/7 mode across spatial borders and time zones. Focusing on largely hidden and invisible work of freelancers such as ...searching for jobs and communicating with clients, the study documents how platforms put pressures and constraints on freelancers’ time through the mechanism of task allocation. We use data on 241,582 timestamped messages posted by 29,759 unique users in 4082 contests on a leading Russian‐language freelance platform to reveal how freelancers’ efforts to get a job make them work nonstandard hours, including evenings, nights and weekends. Freelancers have to be responsive and adapt their schedules to clients’ needs. Freelancers who live in time zones which differ from their clients are particularly disadvantaged, working a greater proportion of nonstandard hours. The findings emerging from the study contribute to current debates on the gig economy and a new time‐work discipline.
From Contract to Speculation Rosenkranz, Tim
Work, employment and society,
08/2019, Letnik:
33, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This qualitative case study of travel journalism in the USA explores how freelancers produce on speculation because publications do not contractually guarantee pay or advanced resources for travel. ...Freelance travel journalists therefore experience their work as an investment into an uncertain return in an undefined future. This article shows how such speculation manifests itself as a new productive process and relations of organisational externalisation in lean capitalism. Examining the changing obligations between freelancers and publications without assignment-contracts, this study argues that speculation presents the obfuscation of production. It externalises the risks of production onto the freelancer; reduces organisational control over production; and changes occupational norms and practices.
Economic strains and the emergence of new digital platforms have significantly changed the way foreign news is reported. In particular, freelancing has played a vital role in how legacy news outlets ...produce foreign news. This study used semi-structured interviews (N = 11) with freelance journalists working for Anglophone news media to examine freelancing in the context of foreign news reporting. The findings show that although many freelancers experience employment precarity and face financial hardships, they enjoy a high level of autonomy in terms of scheduling, networking, sourcing, and choosing which locations to cover. These journalists also embrace widely accepted journalistic norms, such as truthfulness, fairness, and journalistic distance, in their reporting. However, they also challenge some Westernized topics and framings, and because most perceive the foreign news coverage in traditional media as superficial, they fulfill their journalistic mission by pursuing human-interest stories and privileging local voices. In doing so, these freelancers represent foreign journalism idealists who strive to bring a human face to foreign news stories and enhance the depth of foreign news coverage.
Although, in recent years, considerable research has been done on the hazardous experiences of Anglo-Saxon war journalists, Dutch war journalists have never been the focus of academic attention. The ...authors thought the experiences of the Dutch might put war journalism in a new light and so they conducted a series of in-depth interviews with 12 Dutch war journalists. In this article, they address two main research questions: what are war journalists’ motives for practising this dangerous occupation and how do they perceive their professional role? The authors compared their findings to previous research on Anglo-Saxon war journalists and on Dutch journalism students and journalists. The most striking conclusion is that, compared to their Anglo-Saxon colleagues, Dutch war journalists are reluctant to present their motivation and work in moral dimensions too eagerly. Instead, all the interviewees frankly acknowledge that they are excited by the experience of war or at least seeking adventure. They equally admit to having chosen the profession partly because of career opportunities. However, this rational attitude of Dutch war journalists does not deter them from moral objectives.
This article presents the tools with which the state can influence the level of income of freelance professionals in Kazakhstan. Foreign methods and ways of state regulation of the freelance market ...in terms of freelancers' income, the infrastructure of Kazakhstan's remote work market reviewed and analyzed in this article, identified the main characteristics of independent professionals in 2021: working hours, income level, length of service of freelancers, etc. It is noted that freelancers' incomes depend on the influence of the state policy in the field of education and length of service as a freelancer. The stereotype that the more a freelancer works, the more he earns is refuted. In this case, the well-known eight-hour workday standard established by the state is the most optimal option for freelancers to earn more income, which is confirmed by the data of our study. Information is provided on the educational structure of freelancers, the amount of personal monthly income by type of freelancer employment, the experience of freelancers by type of employment, and the average number of hours allocated to work during the week. Multiple regression models of the dependence of freelancers' pay on their education level, work experience, and number of hours worked per week are presented and analyzed in this article. The authors propose recommendations for state regulation that would ensure an effective impact on the level of freelancers' income both in Kazakhstan and in former Soviet Union.
PurposeFreelancers are a growing population of working adults with limited to no organizational support. Yet, their strategies to navigate job search, especially in turbulent times, are unknown. To ...address this gap, the author hypothesized and examined a sequential mediation model whereby freelancer protean career orientation (PCO) influences job search strategies through career competencies (i.e. knowing why, how and with whom to work) and job search self-efficacy (JSSE).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of 87 Canadian freelancers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsThe results supported the sequential mediation from PCO to job search strategies through two of the career competencies (knowing why and how) and JSSE. The mediating role of knowing whom was not supported.Practical implicationsPolicy makers and learning institutions can provide freelancers with opportunities to develop transferable skills through massive open online courses (MOOCs). Employers of freelancers can design motivating jobs that provide freelancers with on-the-job learning and development opportunities.Social implicationsThe insignificant mediating role of knowing whom (i.e. professional networks) implies that large networks might not be necessarily beneficial in times of crisis. Thus, the role of networks might be more complex than the literature has proposed.Originality/valueThis study brings into focus an overlooked population of workers: freelancers. It investigates a sequential mediation through which freelancer PCO impacts job search strategies. In addition, it compares the effectiveness of career competencies in unfolding the proposed sequential mediation.
This paper investigates the effects of the big five, individual entrepreneurial orientation, love of money, and theory of planned behaviour dimensions on the entrepreneurial attitude and intention ...among freelancers. The moderating effect of gender in freelancers was also examined. The research was conducted in Western Balkan countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. A total of 318 questionnaires were collected. The influences of the theory of planned behaviour and individual entrepreneurial orientation dimensions are significant and positive. The positive impact of dimension openness is emphasised. Motivation to make money has a strong and positive effect on entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions, especially among men. The desire to achieve freedom through money has a positive impact on entrepreneurial attitudes, but also a negative effect on entrepreneurial intentions. Analytical and graphical modelling of the detected impacts was performed. Based on the real values of the independent variables that apply to a certain freelancer, analytical models can be used to simulate the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of that individual.
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