Conceptualizing human resource management in the gig economy

Time-Based Stress and Procedural Justice: Can Transparency Mitigate the Effects of Algorithmic Compensation in Gig Work?

The gig economy has led to a new management style, using algorithms to automate managerial decisions. Algorithmic management has aroused the interest of researchers, particularly regarding the prevalence of precarious working conditions and the health issues related to gig work. Despite algorithmically driven remuneration mechanisms' influence on work conditions, few studies have focused on the compensation dimension of algorithmic management. We investigate the effects of algorithmic compensation on gig workers in relation to perceptions of procedural justice and time-based stress, two important predictors of work-related health problems. Also, this study examines the moderating effect of algorithmic transparency in these relationships. Survey data were collected from 962 gig workers via a research panel. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that the degree of exposure to algorithmic compensation is positively related to time-based stress. However, contrary to our expectations, algorithmic compensation is also positively associated with procedural justice perceptions and our results indicate that this relation is enhanced at higher levels of perceived algorithmic transparency. Furthermore, transparency does not play a role in the relationship between algorithmic compensation and time-based stress. These findings suggest that perceived algorithmic transparency makes algorithmic compensation even fairer but does not appear to make it less stressful.

Dynamics of human resource department ecosystem in developing human resource role: An ecosystem perspective

Over the last decade, management scholars have paid increasing attention to ecosystems. The ecosystem approach has recently received much attention in business and innovation studies as a comprehensive way of understanding multi-aspect environments. This exploratory study aims to investigate the dynamics of human resource department ecosystem (HRDE) and the role of HRDE in shaping the human resource business partner role. This study employed a mixed-methods approach, following an exploratory sequential design. First, a conceptual model was developed based on qualitative data collected from expert interviews and analyzed through grounded theory. This stage uncovered eight actors and four factors, further organized into three layers of the ecosystem and hypothesis paths. Then, the structural model was measured and validated using PLS-SEM. This study is unique in applying the HRDE to the HR role's development to deepen our understanding of how a human resource business partner role is shaped by actors' interactions within and between ecosystem layers (micro, meso, and macro). The results revealed actors and factors supporting the HRDE in developing the HR role from the micro to macro layers of the ecosystem. The results suggest that the macro, meso, and micro layers of the HRDE positively impact the human resource business partner role's development.

Are algorithmically controlled gig workers deeply burned out? An empirical study on employee work engagement

BACKGROUND

With the emergence of the gig economy as a new economic form, the influence of algorithmic technology control on gig workers' perceptions and engagement has become a topic of academic concern. This study explores the emotional impact of perceived algorithmic control on gig workers and how it affects their work engagement.

METHODS

This study takes gig workers as the research object to build a structural equation model. Based on the background of gig economy and the Job Demands-Resources model, this paper constructs a mechanism model of the influence of perceived algorithmic control on the work engagement of gig workers. The research data in this paper are collected by questionnaire, and the research hypothesis is tested by the SEM structural model.

RESULTS

The gig workers in this study believed that perceived algorithmic control positively affects employee work engagement. In addition, burnout was positively correlated with employee work engagement. Burnout played a partial mediating role in the relationship between perceived algorithmic control and employee work engagement. And flow experience played a moderating role through the indirect effect of burnout on employees' work engagement.

CONCLUSION

Perceived algorithmic control causes burnout among gig workers, but strong algorithmic technology support provides them with rich work resources that can help them meet their work needs. That is, the gig workers may still demonstrate a high level of work engagement even if they experience burnout symptoms.

Toward a sustainable career perspective on contingent work: a critical review and a research agenda

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis of the contingent work field and to advocate a sustainable career perspective on contingent work.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a broader review approach allowed to synthesize the contingent work literature across contingent work types (temporary agency work, gig work and freelance work) and develop a sustainable career perspective on contingent work. The authors searched for empirical, conceptual and review articles published from 2008 to December 2021. In total, the authors included 208 articles.

Findings

The authors advocate a sustainable career perspective that allows for organizing and synthesizing the fragmented contingent work literature. Adopting a sustainable career perspective enables to study contingent work from a dynamic perspective transcending one single organization.

Originality/value

The field is suffering from fragmentation and most importantly from an oversight of how contingent work experiences play a role in a persons’ career. This paper addresses this problem by adopting a sustainable career perspective on contingent work.

Gig worker organizing: toward an adapted Attraction-Selection-Attrition framework

Purpose

As conventional practices of working continue to be modified in the gig economy, more theoretical work examining the experiences of gig workers is needed. Relying on person-based fit and levels of analysis literature, this paper proposes an adaptation to the traditional Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) framework to the gig economy.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the ASA framework, this conceptual paper explores how gig workers join, leave and could be retained by gig employers.

Findings

The authors recognize an intermediary “organizing” phase within the ASA framework for gig workers. Using examples of appwork and crowdwork, the authors show that workers tend to self-organize through third-party websites to help gig work become economically sustainable, avoid being exploited and enhance gig workers' sense of community and identity.

Practical implications

The practical implications of this research lie in gig employers understanding how workers experience gig employment and in helping employers be successful in attracting, selecting and retaining quality workers and thereby lowering permanent attrition.

Originality/value

The authors propose a novel adaptation to the conventional ASA framework to include organizing as a phase in gig worker employment. This research defines gig attraction and attrition at the individual-level, selection at the individual- and task-levels based in person-job (PJ)-fit and the various aspects of gig organizing as encompassing fit with one's job, organization, and environmental (i.e., PJ-, PO-, PE-fit) at the individual-, task-, and network-levels.

Mitigating Gig and Remote Worker Misconduct: Evidence from a Real Effort Experiment

Employee misconduct is costly to organizations and has the potential to be even more common in gig and remote work contexts, in which workers are physically distant from their employers. There is, thus, a need for scholars to better understand what employers can do to mitigate misconduct in these nontraditional work environments, particularly as the prevalence of such work environments is increasing. We combine an agency perspective with a behavioral relationship-based perspective to consider two avenues through which gig employers can potentially mitigate misconduct: (1) through the communication of organizational values and (2) through the credible threat of monitoring. We implement a real effort experiment in a gig work context that enables us to cleanly observe misconduct. Consistent with our theory, we present causal evidence that communication of organizational values, both externally facing in the form of social/environmental responsibility and internally facing in the form of an employee ethics code, decreases misconduct. This effect, however, is largely negated when workers are informed that they are being monitored. We provide suggestive evidence that this crowding out is due to a decrease in perceived trust that results from the threat of monitoring. Our results have important theoretical implications for research on employee misconduct and shed light on the trade-offs associated with various potential policy solutions.

Prospects of Integrating Gig Economy in the Saudi Arabian Health-care System from the Perspectives of Health-care Decision-makers and Practitioners

Background

Gig economy is an approach in the labor market which is characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work in contrast to permanent jobs. The gig workers are independent workers or temporary contract workers who enter into formal/informal agreements with on-demand companies to provide their services. Rather than employing full-time/permanent employees companies may utilize gig workers as per the demand and work burden, which can minimize the costs incurred in managing permanent employees. However, there is a lack of research on using gig economy in health care, its prospects and the issues involved.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate various prospects in integrating gig economy with the Saudi health-care system.

Methods

An online survey questionnaire instrument including 22 prospects under three categories including organizational competitiveness, resource management, and sustainable development was used for collecting data from 712 health-care decision-makers and practitioners in Saudi Arabia. Findings were analyzed using the statistical means and standard deviations for each item in the questionnaire for analyzing the role of each factor in depth, and t-tests were used for comparing the responses between the groups.

Results

T-tests revealed no significant differences among the experts and health-care workers in relation to organizational competitiveness and resource management; however, significant differences in opinions were identified in relation to sustainable development. Individual factors including motivation for Saudization program (mean=4.5, SD=1.15) and creating employment opportunities in rural areas (mean=4.5, SD=1.08), growth in economy (mean=4.4, SD=1.43), increased opportunities for women and disabled (mean=4.4, SD=1.28), and growth in employment (mean=4.3, SD=1.68) were the major prospects identified in relation to the use of gig economy in the Saudi Arabian health-care system.

Conclusion

Gig economy may offer a wide range of benefits in health care, especially sustainable development, effective resource management, and organizational competitiveness.

Productivity of gig workers on crowdsourcing platforms through artificial intelligence and gamification: a multi-theoretical approach

Purpose

Gig workers form the backbone of any crowdsourcing platform where they showcase their talent and choose a job of their choice and freedom. The study explores the role of information quality (IQ) and social-mediated dialogue (SMD) in evaluating gig worker engagement and productivity on crowdsourcing platforms. The authors also propose to understand how gig worker productivity could be improved under the moderating effect of game elements.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model was developed and empirically tested by integrating media richness theory and dialogic public relation theory. Data were collected from gig workers that are involved in crowdsourcing activities for the past three years. An overall sample of 346 gig workers contributing to at least one of the crowdsourcing platforms was collected. The authors tested the hypotheses using Warp PLS 7.0. Warp PLS 7.0 uses partial least square (PLS) structured equation modeling (SEM) and has been used widely to test path analytical models.

Findings

Results reveal that the information quality plays an essential role in the SMD, thereby fostering gig workers' productivity and engagement, which could be improved in the presence of game elements due to their nature of supporting rewards. However, engagement in the platform leading to improved productivity was not supported.

Practical implications

The study lays practical foundations for crowdsourcing platforms as it sets the importance of both IQ and dialogic communication channels. The two-way communication between gig workers and the platforms via accurate, timely, valuable and reliable information forms the key to the task's success. The introduction of the right game element will help to achieve better engagement and productivity.

Originality/value

This study also offers a new dimension to media richness theory and dialogic public relation theory in crowdsourcing platforms. The results would help platform designers and gig employers understand gig workers' quality and performance in a platform economy. The study uniquely positions itself in the area of crowdsourcing platforms by using game elements.

Simulation of the Influence of External Factors on the Level of Use of the Regional Tourism Potential: A Practical Aspect

Today, the issue of development of the tourism industry is becoming increasingly relevant, as this industry is an important component of the economic system of each country. External factors have the most significant impact on the development of tourism: natural disasters, wars, economic crises, and pandemics have had a destabilizing effect on the development of the tourism industry around the world. To avoid or reduce the impact of negative phenomena on the tourism industry of a particular country or region, it is crucial to predict the impact of external factors, identify the most important of them, and develop strategic measures to turn threats into opportunities. In the context of solving the mentioned problem, this study aims to model the impact of external factors on the level of use of tourism potential of the region. After all, tourist services and products of each country and region are unique, as they are formed under the influence of existing special natural resources, cultural heritage, environmental, social and other factors inherent only in them; and if in one country/region the influence of a certain factor can weaken the development of tourism, in another one—it can stimulate it. A method of comparison with the reference value and a method of calculating the integral indicator were used in the study. Based on the analysis, an integral indicator of the level of use of the tourist potential of the region was calculated and the method of assessing the impact of external factors on the level of tourist potential on the example of the Carpathian region of Ukraine was tested.

Gig Health vs eHealth: Future Prospects in Saudi Arabian Health-Care System

Introduction

The number of gig workers has been rising across the world, reflecting the growing trend toward the gig economy, which is already functioning in various sectors, such as transport(eg, Uber), technology (eg, Appen), and others (eg, Upwork). However, application of gig economy in health care is underresearched, especially in areas of eHealth that can facilitate various online activities and be outsourced.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the gig economy and eHealth in terms of prospects for future health care in Saudi Arabia.

Methods

Analysis of data collected using online semistructured interviews with 19 experts, including executives from ministries of health and information and communications, physicians, and health-care administrative managers was conducted and new empirical insights are offered.

Results

A lack of legal and regulatory frameworks and integrating gig culture into the eHealth system were identified to be the major challenges. Improved operational efficiency of health care, reduced costs, and positive societal impact were identified to be the opportunities and benefits of using the gig economy and eHealth in Saudi Arabia. A strategic framework and an effective regulatory framework are essential for integrating the gig economy into the eHealth system in Saudi Arabia and improving future health care by adopting innovative artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies.

Conclusion

eHealth has major scope for future health-care operations in Saudi Arabia and use of the gig economy in eHealth may lead to effective management of eHealth operations. More studies are required to evaluate the idea of integrating the gig economy and eHealth and analyze its impact.

When do service suppliers leave their platform?—The role of friendships

Platform organizations connect suppliers with customers. A key success factor for these organizations is the maintenance of a stable base of loyal suppliers. Interpersonal relationships (i.e., friendships) seem to be an ideal measure of suppliers’ loyalty, as the literature generally indicates that friendships within organizations decrease turnover intention. However, platforms are not fully comparable to traditional organizations, and the correlation between friendships and suppliers’ turnover intention is more complicated for platforms. To demonstrate that, this study analyzed a unique dataset from the music industry. The sample included 101 techno DJs (i.e., service suppliers) from 61 booking agencies (i.e., service platforms). The findings show that service suppliers’ turnover intention is considerably lower when they maintain friendships with the platform’s employees. However, friendships with other suppliers who use the same platform do not affect turnover intention. Managers of service platforms could use the results and suggestions of this paper to adapt their management practices to better suit their service suppliers.

Re-thinking gig economy in conventional workforce post-COVID-19: a blended approach for upholding fair balance

Purpose

Despite the trend, managing and maximizing the effectiveness of blended workforce is not well-understood. The purpose of this paper is to institutionalize a blended workforce model in the post-COVID era, that is, a movement from homogenous workforce to heterogenous workforce of full-time employees working in tandem with gig talents connected via digital platforms.

Design/methodology/approach

The evolution of gig economy is presented for contextualizing the development of prospective business models in the post-COVID era to establish clarity on the relationship between the employers and the blended workforce. To achieve this conceptual switch, a framework is proposed to support this type of workforce for creating a fair balance.

Findings

By drawing on the concepts of various talent management functions, propositions were made predicting that the alignment of the multilateral activities of the gig workers with permanent workforce will be leveraged in the future to address the needs of short-term specialized skill-sets and scalable operations while creating a fair balance through a flexible and agile workforce.

Originality/value

First, the paper explores how bridging the gap between the traditional and gig workforce can impact the key antecedents of a blended workforce ensuring a fair trial. Second, on an economical level, the COOKIE framework proposed in the paper is expected to play a crucial role in creating new job opportunities, boosting employee morale while minimizing costs and increasing productivity of the organizations.

The Gig Economy: Current Issues, the Debate, and the New Avenues of Research

In the context of the debate on platform economy, on the one hand, and the gig economy, on the other, this paper delineates the conceptual boundaries of both concepts to query the gig economy research included in the Web of Science database. The initial search, cutoff date February 2020, targeting “gig economy” returned a sample of 378 papers dealing with the topic. The subsequent analysis, employing the science mapping method and relating software (SciMAT), allowed to query the body of research dealing with gig economy in detail. The value added by this paper is fourfold. First, the broad literature on gig economy is mapped and the nascent synergies relating both to research opportunities and economic implications are identified and highlighted. Second, the findings reveal that while research on gig economy proliferates, the distinction between “platform” and “gig” economy frequently remains blurred in the analysis. This paper elaborates on this issue. Third, it is highlighted that the discussion on gig economy is largely dispersed and a clearer research agenda is needed to streamline the discussion to improve its exploratory and explanatory potential. This paper suggests ways of navigating this issue. Fourth, by mapping the existing research on gig economy and highlighting its caveats, the way toward a comprehensive research agenda in the field is highlighted.

Who Supports Project Careers? Leveraging the Compensatory Roles of Line Managers

This exploratory research examines who supports what aspects of career development on projects. Our main finding is that, although project professionals receive support from formal and informal sources, a compensatory mechanism is at play. When support does not come from direct line managers, project professionals are compelled to initiate informal practices, including mentoring, buddy systems, and communities of practice. Practical implications arise for organizations regarding how to ensure sufficient mechanisms are in place to compensate for lack of line management career support and to allow project professionals to access the development opportunities they need by supporting their self-initiated efforts.