In this paper, we focus on the consequences of cost-cutting strategies for the division of labor in newsrooms both in terms of differences between generalist profiles and beat reporters, and in terms ...of differences between permanent staff and freelancers. A large-scale representative survey of Belgian journalists in 2013 and 2018 shows that the number of beat reporters has remained stable although these journalists are expected to cover a higher number of beats. We also noticed a sharp increase of self-employed journalists. The prestigious political beat seems to benefit from a protected position in the newsroom and is mostly staffed by payroll journalists. Other beats are under pressure, most importantly the regional beat (that has decreased over the course of 5 years) and the lifestyle beat. The latter group of journalists are predominantly freelancers and report low levels of perceived autonomy from commercial and non-commercial pressure. The findings raise concerns about negative side-effects of cost-cutting strategies including a tendency towards more homogeneous news production and increasing influence of PR on journalism.
Drivers of freelance career success van den Born, Arjan; van Witteloostuijn, Arjen
Journal of organizational behavior,
01/2013, Letnik:
34, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Recent evidence shows that the frequently proclaimed collapse of the traditional career model is actually not supported by job tenure data. This paper argues that the observed stability of job tenure ...might be explained by an increasing number of shamrock organizations. This organizational form has three types of workers: core employees, professional freelancers, and routine workers. In such an organization, two very different career models coexist. The organization largely determines the career of the core employee, whereas the individual essentially shapes that of the professional freelancer. This paper studies extensively the career of this second group: the professional freelancer, a growing phenomenon in many developed countries but not yet the focus of many career studies. We develop a freelance career success model on basis of the intelligent career framework augmented by insights from literature on entrepreneurship. Data are from a web survey with responses from about 1600 independent professionals in the Netherlands, in combination with 51 in-depth interviews. We provide two main contributions. First, we report findings from the first large-scale quantitative study into freelance career success. Second, this study enhances our understanding of the success of the modern career by building bridges between career and entrepreneurship literatures. We conclude that the external environment in which an individual freelancer operates is the most important factor determining career success. The study therefore suggests that more work needs to be performed on the relationship between the environment and individual career success.
The purpose of the study is to determine the possible consequences of a sharp increase in the number of virtual labor migrants for the national economy and outline the main threats to information ...security in connection with the involvement of "hybrid workers". Based on the analysis of open sources, the working conditions of "hybrid workers" are outlined, as well as the possibilities of their cooperation with employers. The influence of regulatory and legal regulation of the work of freelancers on the modernization of their activities is highlighted. The main trends in the development of virtual labor migration in the conditions of increasing speed and volume of information transmission via the INTERNET network have been determined. The mostly temporary nature of labor relations causes a relatively low level of wages for virtual labor migrants, but it is a powerful means of countering the spread of unemployment. Virtual labor migrants, as a rule, are not limited in their work by obligations to a specific employer. Their business interests may also conflict with the national interests of the country where they permanently reside. This nature of work carries the threat of unauthorized dissemination of certain data, as well as the performance of certain tasks by foreign employers, which threaten the economic interests of the country of residence of "digital nomads" or its individual enterprises. This carries a potential threat to the business interests of both individual states and certain transnational corporations, which will require strengthening measures in the field of information security of production.
Disclosing ‘masked employees’ in Europe Millán, Ana; Millán, José María; Caçador-Rodrigues, Leonel
Small business economics,
08/2020, Letnik:
55, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In this study, we examine whether job control, job demands and job outcomes of ‘dependent self-employed workers’, i.e. the workers in this particular grey zone between employment and self-employment, ...are more similar to those of the self-employed or paid employed. To this end, we use microdata drawn from the 2010 wave of the European Working Conditions Survey for 34 European countries. First, we develop and validate a psychometrically sound multidimensional scale for these 3 key constructs by conducting both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Then, multilevel (hierarchical) linear regressions are used to test the validity of our hypotheses. Our results suggest that these hybrid work relationships are endowed with the least favourable attributes of both groups: lower job control than self-employed workers, higher job demands than paid employees and, overall, worse job outcomes than both.
This paper presents the review and discussion of terminology and criteria describing the self-employment phenomenon. We attempt to give a conceptually and empirically grounded categorisation of ...self-employment forms for this heterogeneous and constantly changing group. An abundance of definitions and conceptualisations of self-employment exists and makes data collection and statistical comparisons for this group unreliable, if at all meaningful. In order to produce sound, reliable comparative studies on the self-employed population, researchers will eventually be required to agree on a universal and internationally consistent definitions and a structured categorisation. Such determinations are also essential for practical purposes such as establishing or enforcing the taxation regulations.
In our study, the systematic analysis of selected data from 253 various publications was performed. We gave an overview of different approaches to the problem of identification and differentiation of self-employed. An ordered list of criteria used for these purposes has been compiled. We concluded that the set of five categories with most salient characteristics reflects well the composition of the self-employed population: freelancers (ipros), innovators, traditional small business owners (including farmers), dependent self-employed and hybrid self-employed. We discuss the perspective on further studies and need for integration of research approaches in view of increasing role of the new forms of self-employment in global economy.
The topic of this paper are the values of the individual entrepreneurial orientation and the Theory of planned behavior dimensions, among freelancers in the Western Balkan countries (Bosnia and ...Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia). The effects of four control variables: gender, age, education level, and previous entrepreneurial experience were also examined. Freelancers best perceive support for an entrepreneurial venture as well as their proactivity. Entrepreneurial intentions were assessed as the worst. The greatest impact on the observed dimensions occurs in the division of the sample into freelancers who have/do not have previous experience in entrepreneurship. As for the other control variables, statistically significant differences occur in only three other cases: dimensions RT - Risk-taking and PBC - Perceived behavioral control on the side of male freelancers, and dimension IN - Innovativeness on the side of younger freelancers. A comparison was made with a similar study, where the respondents were conventional employees. In general, freelancers have greater entrepreneurial intentions than conventional employees. Freelancers are more consistent in terms of entrepreneurial intentions: there are no differences in these intentions if the sample is divided according to the gender and age of freelancers. These results are discussed in the paper.
Contemporary careers have paved the way for protean careerists. As protean careerists, freelancers are viewed as a new breed of workforce who build their careers independent of any organisational ...affiliation and thus, hold full responsibility for managing and developing their own career. In this paper, we theoretically elucidate the relationship between the freelancer's career meta-competencies, perceived employability and career success. We propose a conceptual model of these relationships, along with deciphering the moderating role of occupational embeddedness and individual career stage. Our paper builds on the new career theories through offering a more holistic model of career success for freelancers that showcases the relevance of career identity and adaptability as significant for both subjective and objective career success. The paper also highlights several practical implications for freelancers that act as a guide for their survival and advancement in their protean career path.
Purpose
The labor market has witnessed the increase of the new forms of employment relationship (freelancers, contingent workers, and gig workers) due to the COVID-19 outbreak, generating new ...workforce patterns that represent a significant challenge for human resource development (HRD) professionals in organizations. Studies that have addressed these new forms of employment relationship and HRD during this pandemic are sparse. This paper aims to broaden the scope of HRD research by exploring the implications of these new forms of employment relationship for HRD in the time of COVID-19. It also provides insights for HRD professionals as well as governments into how to address this challenge.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a viewpoint that addresses the new workforce patterns generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for HRD at the organizational, individual and national levels.
Findings
COVID-19 sheds light on the importance of atypical workers who can create a competitive advantage for organizations, ensure their continuity and significantly benefit national and societal well-being in times of health crisis. However, these atypical workers are often overlooked when it comes to training and development. Whence the importance, for HRD professionals and governments, to address their situation and to integrate them into organizational and national HRD plans and programs, by going beyond traditional models of HRD which focus mainly on standard employees.
Originality/value
This paper examines a relatively unexplored topic. Besides examining the implications of the new forms of employment relationship, for HRD, it provides insights for HRD professionals and governments into how to address the challenges related to these new forms of employment relationship.
This article discusses the experimentation led by SMart in Belgium, a worker cooperative founded to support freelance artists – and subsequently extended to other freelancers – with the aim of ...helping them reduce four forms of uncertainties that affect such workers. Over the past 20 years, SMart has sought to secure broader access to social protections for these workers, shifting its strategies to accommodate the changes in rules set by the Belgian federal state. Today, experimentation abounds for various types of intermediation with new forms of employment, but SMart is notable for its ambition to build a cooperative firm providing the protections of wage work to beneficiaries otherwise ignored by social policies. Based on qualitative research conducted from a Deweyan perspective, and 48 in-depth interviews with SMart worker-members, the authors examine the ways in which SMart can be considered an example of democratic institutional experimentation providing collective capabilities to its worker-members in pursuit of better work.
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