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Reynolds J, Aguilar J, Kincaid R. More than a side-hustle: Satisfaction with conventional and microtask work and the association with life satisfaction. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 2024; 122:103055. [PMID: 39216917 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.103055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/21/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Gig platforms promise attractive, flexible ways to earn supplemental income. Academics, however, often describe gig work as low-quality work, suggesting that it is less satisfying than conventional work. In this paper, we present a novel comparison of satisfaction with gig microtask work and conventional work among MTurk workers doing both. We also examine how satisfaction with gig and conventional work relate to life satisfaction. On average, respondents report less satisfaction with microtasks than with conventional work. Nevertheless, roughly one-third of respondents are more satisfied with microtask work. Furthermore, microtask work lowers overall life satisfaction, but only among "platform dependent" respondents (those who rely on platform income). Specifically, structural equation modeling reveals a case of moderated mediation: "platform dependence" reduces life satisfaction by lowering satisfaction with microtask work while also strengthening the latter's connection to life satisfaction. Taken together, our findings support and extend the theory of platform dependence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy Reynolds
- 1136 Beering Hall, Department of Sociology, 100 N. University Street, Suite 1114, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
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2
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Sarker MR, Taj TA, Sarkar MAR, Hassan MF, McKenzie AM, Al Mamun MA, Sarker D, Bhandari H. Gender differences in job satisfaction among gig workers in Bangladesh. Sci Rep 2024; 14:17128. [PMID: 39054341 PMCID: PMC11272942 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-68327-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024] Open
Abstract
The gig economy (temporary, contract, and freelance online jobs rather than permanent positions) is a component of the fourth industrial revolution and preview of future work. The rise of digital platforms has increased career opportunities and income potential, particularly for women. Yet, the sex-disaggregated evidence regarding platform usage, employment characteristics, and working motivations and satisfaction remains untapped. Using data from a quantitative survey of Bangladeshi gig workers (242 men and 201 women) conducted in 2022, this paper addresses these gaps between male and female workers. The gig economy appears to be gender-segregated across digital platform usages and working categories. Women tend to prioritize digital work options for managing multiple responsibilities, while men are often driven by the potential for higher income. This study conceptually utilized the two-factor theory and empirically ordered a probit model to identify gender differences in job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was significantly increased by work-life balance, monthly income, and social-media connection, while an increase in working hours, complexity in payment systems, and unstable networks all led to a decrease in job satisfaction. The findings have implications for the future growth of the gig economy, provide new insights into gender differences in job satisfaction, and underscore the need for gender-sensitive policies in the online labor market.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mou Rani Sarker
- Sustainable Impact Platform, International Rice Research Institute, Dhaka, 1213, Bangladesh
| | - Tanjum Afrin Taj
- Department of Agricultural and Applied Statistics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, 2202, Bangladesh
| | - Md Abdur Rouf Sarkar
- School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, 430073, China.
- Agricultural Economics Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur, 1701, Bangladesh.
| | - Md Fuad Hassan
- Department of Agricultural and Applied Statistics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, 2202, Bangladesh
| | - Andrew M McKenzie
- Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA
| | - Md Abdullah Al Mamun
- Agricultural Statistics Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur, 1701, Bangladesh
| | - Dweep Sarker
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jagannath University, Dhaka, 1100, Bangladesh
| | - Humnath Bhandari
- Impact, Policy, and Foresight Department, International Rice Research Institute, Dhaka, 1213, Bangladesh
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Do you see what I see? A social capital perspective on microtask gig worker opportunity recognition within electronic networks of practice. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
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4
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Alasoini T, Immonen J, Seppänen L, Känsälä M. Platform workers and digital agency: Making out on three types of labor platforms. FRONTIERS IN SOCIOLOGY 2023; 8:1063613. [PMID: 37051226 PMCID: PMC10083383 DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1063613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Much of the research on platform workers has focused on individuals involved in low-skilled and highly standardized tasks. However, platform workers are not a homogeneous group. Utilizing a classification system that makes a distinction between different layers of platform control and grouping platforms according to how they divide decision rights between platforms and workers, we examine how and for what purposes platform workers operating in three types of control contexts have practiced and developed their digital agency for making out. The study, based on an analysis of platform webpages and 32 semi-structured interviews of food couriers, freelancers, and interim managers, shows that workers can exercise their digital agency on all three types of platforms, but different platforms create different conditions for this depending on their special forms of control. In addition, the forms of control also affect to what extent workers are motivated to direct their agency for making out. Instead of regarding platform work as just another layer of a periphery segment in the labor market, our analysis suggests that platforms exercising algorithmic control are new types of arenas for work, which seem to reproduce, or even amplify, the inequalities found in the offline world of work in the digital world.
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Mukherjee D, Kumar S, Pandey N, Lahiri S. Is offshoring dead? A multidisciplinary review and future directions. JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2023.101017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
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6
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Xia H. What scholars and
IRBs
talk when they talk about the Belmont principles in crowd
work‐based
research. J Assoc Inf Sci Technol 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/asi.24724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Huichuan Xia
- Department of Information Management Peking University Beijing China
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7
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Cini L. Resisting algorithmic control: Understanding the rise and variety of platform worker mobilisations. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Cini
- Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School University College Dublin Dublin Ireland
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Černe M, Bunjak A, Wong S, Moh'd SS. I'm creative and deserving! From self‐rated creativity to creative recognition. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/caim.12518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Matej Černe
- School of Economics and Business University of Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia
| | - Aldijana Bunjak
- Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management University of St. Gallen St. Gallen Switzerland
| | - Sut‐I Wong
- BI Norwegian Business School Oslo Norway
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The original sin of crowd work for human subjects research. JOURNAL OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION & ETHICS IN SOCIETY 2022. [DOI: 10.1108/jices-12-2021-0126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
Academic scholars have leveraged crowd work platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk for human subjects research for almost two decades. However, few scholars have reflected or questioned this mode of academic research. This paper aims to examine three fundamental problems of crowd work and elaborates on their lasting effects on impacting the validity and quality of human subjects research on crowd work.
Design/methodology/approach`
A critical analysis is conducted on the characteristics of crowd work, and three fundamental problems of crowd work since its origin were identified, namely, the position of “Human-as-a-service,” the confusion of terminology and crowd work platforms’ abdication of responsibilities.
Findings
This paper explains that the three identified fundamental problems of crowd work render at least two lasting problems in crowd work-based research: first, the negligence of the teleological difference between crowd work and academic research; second, the ontological schism between scholars and institutional review boards (IRBs) in their ethical concerns and practices.
Originality/value
This paper critiques the foundation of crowd work-based research that has become growingly popular, extolled and taken for granted. Such a critique is deficient in literature and may seem a bit peculiar. However, we hold that it is time to take research ethics seriously in crowd work because we need to introspect and question ourselves as scholars: What is our motive or ethical stance in using crowd work for human subjects research? Is it for advancing scientific knowledge, promoting crowd workers’ welfare, or predominantly for benefiting ourselves from the fast, cheap and “good” data via crowd work?
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Basu S, Majumdar B, Mukherjee K, Munjal S, Palaksha C. The role of artificial intelligence in HRM: A systematic review and future research direction. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT REVIEW 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2022.100893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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11
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Liang Y, Aroles J, Brandl B. Charting platform capitalism: Definitions, concepts and ideologies. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yin Liang
- Durham University Business School Durham UK
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12
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Burnette CB, Luzier J, Bennett BL, Weisenmuller C, Kerr P, Martin S, Keener J, Calderwood L. Concerns and recommendations for using Amazon MTurk for eating disorder research. Int J Eat Disord 2022; 55:263-272. [PMID: 34562036 PMCID: PMC8992375 DOI: 10.1002/eat.23614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Our original aim was to validate and norm common eating disorder (ED) symptom measures in a large, representative community sample of transgender adults in the United States. We recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a popular online recruitment and data collection platform both within and outside of the ED field. We present an overview of our experience using MTurk. METHOD Recruitment began in Spring 2020; our original target N was 2,250 transgender adults stratified evenly across the United States. Measures included a demographics questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire, and the Eating Attitudes Test-26. Consistent with current literature recommendations, we implemented a comprehensive set of attention and validity measures to reduce and identify bot responding, data farming, and participant misrepresentation. RESULTS Recommended validity and attention checks failed to identify the majority of likely invalid responses. Our collection of two similar ED measures, thorough weight history assessment, and gender identity experiences allowed us to examine response concordance and identify impossible and improbable responses, which revealed glaring discrepancies and invalid data. Furthermore, qualitative data (e.g., emails received from MTurk workers) raised concerns about economic conditions facing MTurk workers that could compel misrepresentation. DISCUSSION Our results strongly suggest most of our data were invalid, and call into question results of recently published MTurk studies. We assert that caution and rigor must be applied when using MTurk as a recruitment tool for ED research, and offer several suggestions for ED researchers to mitigate and identify invalid data.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jessica Luzier
- Charleston Area Medical Center – Institute for Academic Medicine,West Virginia University School of Medicine-Charleston Division; Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry
| | - Brooke L. Bennett
- Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Chantel Weisenmuller
- Charleston Area Medical Center – Institute for Academic Medicine,West Virginia University School of Medicine-Charleston Division; Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry
| | - Patrick Kerr
- Charleston Area Medical Center – Institute for Academic Medicine,West Virginia University School of Medicine-Charleston Division; Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry
| | | | - Jillian Keener
- Charleston Area Medical Center – Institute for Academic Medicine,West Virginia University School of Medicine-Charleston Division; Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry
| | - Lisa Calderwood
- Charleston Area Medical Center – Institute for Academic Medicine
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13
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Dorschel R. Reconsidering digital labour: Bringing tech workers into the debate. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Dorschel
- Department of Sociology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
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14
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Idowu A, Elbanna A. Crowdworkers, social affirmation and work identity: Rethinking dominant assumptions of crowdwork. INFORMATION AND ORGANIZATION 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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15
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Absorbed in technology but digitally overloaded: Interplay effects on gig workers’ burnout and creativity. INFORMATION & MANAGEMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2021.103533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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16
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Malik F, Heeks R, Masiero S, Nicholson B. Digital labour platforms in Pakistan: institutional voids and solidarity networks. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & PEOPLE 2021. [DOI: 10.1108/itp-04-2020-0218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
PurposeWhile digital labour platforms are being increasingly studied across the Global South, the existing literature does not conceptualise the theoretical link between such platforms and socio-economic development. This paper theorises such a link drawing on the notion of institutional voids defined, as in Khanna and Palepu (2010), as “the absence of intermediaries to efficiently connect buyers and sellers” in an economy. We frame digital labour platforms as means to fill institutional voids, seeking to create “development” in the form of earning opportunities in contexts of deprivation.Design/methodology/approachWe draw on an interpretive case study of an online work training project in a deprived region of Pakistan, where members of marginalised communities were trained to become freelancers for global digital labour platforms. We use the notion of market-enabling institutions aimed at filling institutional voids as a lens to study the project's declared goals, examining the extent to which these were met in practice for the workers who participated in the training.FindingsOur analysis reveals three types of market-enabling institutions–credibility enhancers, aggregators and distributors, and transaction facilitators–through which digital labour platforms seek to fill institutional voids. However, workers' narratives reveal that institutional voids are only partially filled by these platforms, and their perpetuation results in diverse forms of power asymmetries leveraged by clients and owners of the platforms. We also observe the formation of solidarity networks among workers, networks that are intra-familial and societal rather than characterised by formal unionisation.Originality/valueThe paper offers a novel perspective to theorise the link between digital labour and socio-economic development. Applying such a perspective in a Global South context, it also finds the limits of the digital platforms' institutional void-filling potential, highlighting the emergence of power asymmetries and the emerging formation of worker solidarity networks.
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17
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Nevo D, Kotlarsky J. Crowdsourcing as a strategic IS sourcing phenomenon: Critical review and insights for future research. JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jsis.2020.101593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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18
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Stewart P, Shanahan G, Smith M. Individualism and Collectivism at Work in an Era of Deindustrialization: Work Narratives of Food Delivery Couriers in the Platform Economy. FRONTIERS IN SOCIOLOGY 2020; 5:49. [PMID: 33869456 PMCID: PMC8022642 DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2020.00049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2020] [Accepted: 06/05/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Supposedly emblematic of digital capitalism, the rise of the gig economy is frequently taken as a cipher for the developing deindustrialisation of western societies. It is tempting to interpret the shift of manufacturing jobs to the global south and their replacement with service sector jobs as a one-way street, leading to the demise of decent work and the rise of work characterized by precarity, low pay, low skill and a non-unionized workforce. However, the reality is inevitably more complex. In the first place, pessimism may be attributed to a rose-tinted view of the experience of former industrial employment in the global north resulting from a questionable assumption about the nature of the jobs that occupied most people in former industrial societies. Certainly, deindustrialisation is not leading to "de-working," that is, working less for the same money. With respect to gig work, autonomy and flexibility are central to labor inducement and hence labor control. Yet at the same time, and linked to the latter, we need to explore another deep-rooted phenomenon: the persistence of workspace collectivism. Our evidence derives from qualitative interviews with gig workers in the food delivery sector in a number of European countries. We highlight the extent to which couriers profess a variety of understandings of the character of platform economy labor processes. A range of narratives emerge including platform work as leisure, as economic opportunity, and as collectivist labor. Moreover, individuation, attendant upon the character of the physical labor process, did not lead in any straightforward way to individualism in social labor processes-contrary to our expectations, we in fact witnessed forms of collectivism. Collectivism is to be distinguished from "types of solidarity" described by Morgan and Pulignano (2020) whereby neo-liberalism has transformed a range of institutional forms of labor solidarities. By contrast, we are concerned with the persistence of the collective worker within the changing sociological structure of work. This echoes the earlier finding by Stephenson and Stewart (2001) that collectivism endures even when behaviourally absent and indeed even in the context of individualized working-termed "whispering shadow." Thus, the objective of the paper is to explore the forms of actor individualism and collectivism identified in our research. Given platform apps' external control, the gig economy spatially separates workers while at the same time requiring cognition of colleagues' collective work and labor process. Notwithstanding structural processes separating workers-in-work, platforms also witness the instantiation of forms of collectivism. Deindustrialisation is neither the end to collectivism nor trade unionism. Rather than post-work, then, we explore the problematics of plus work and variant collectivisms.
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Dunn M. Making gigs work: digital platforms, job quality and worker motivations. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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20
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Shapiro A. Dynamic exploits: calculative asymmetries in the on‐demand economy. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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21
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Aroles J, Granter E, Vaujany F. ‘Becoming mainstream’: the professionalisation and corporatisation of digital nomadism. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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23
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Nemkova E, Demirel P, Baines L. In search of meaningful work on digital freelancing platforms: the case of design professionals. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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24
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Aroles J, Mitev N, Vaujany F. Mapping themes in the study of new work practices. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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25
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Smith A. Introduction to Review Articles on ‘Good work: the Taylor Review of modern working practices’, introduction by Andrew Smith. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Kuhn KM, Galloway TL. Expanding perspectives on gig work and gig workers. JOURNAL OF MANAGERIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1108/jmp-05-2019-507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Wood AJ, Graham M, Lehdonvirta V, Hjorth I. Good Gig, Bad Gig: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy. WORK, EMPLOYMENT & SOCIETY : A JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 2019; 33:56-75. [PMID: 30886460 PMCID: PMC6380453 DOI: 10.1177/0950017018785616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 125] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
This article evaluates the job quality of work in the remote gig economy. Such work consists of the remote provision of a wide variety of digital services mediated by online labour platforms. Focusing on workers in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the article draws on semi-structured interviews in six countries (N = 107) and a cross-regional survey (N = 679) to detail the manner in which remote gig work is shaped by platform-based algorithmic control. Despite varying country contexts and types of work, we show that algorithmic control is central to the operation of online labour platforms. Algorithmic management techniques tend to offer workers high levels of flexibility, autonomy, task variety and complexity. However, these mechanisms of control can also result in low pay, social isolation, working unsocial and irregular hours, overwork, sleep deprivation and exhaustion.
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Ma X, Khansa L, Kim SS. Active Community Participation and Crowdworking Turnover: A Longitudinal Model and Empirical Test of Three Mechanisms. J MANAGE INFORM SYST 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/07421222.2018.1523587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Schlagwein D, Cecez-Kecmanovic D, Hanckel B. Ethical norms and issues in crowdsourcing practices: A Habermasian analysis. INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/isj.12227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Schlagwein
- Discipline of Business Information Systems, The University of Sydney Business School; The University of Sydney; Sydney NSW Australia
| | - Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic
- School of Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Business School; UNSW; Sydney NSW Australia
| | - Benjamin Hanckel
- School of Population Health and Environmental Sciences; King's College London; London UK
- School of Social Sciences; The University of Tasmania; Hobart TAS Australia
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Wood AJ, Lehdonvirta V, Graham M. Workers of the Internet unite? Online freelancer organisation among remote gig economy workers in six Asian and African countries. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Huws U, Spencer NH, Syrdal DS. Online, on call: the spread of digitally organised just-in-time working and its implications for standard employment models. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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32
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Rowe F. Being critical is good, but better with philosophy! From digital transformation and values to the future of IS research. EUR J INFORM SYST 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/0960085x.2018.1471789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Frantz Rowe
- Université de Nantes (LEMNA) and SKEMA Business School, France
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Kost D, Fieseler C, Wong SI. Finding meaning in a hopeless place? The construction of meaningfulness in digital microwork. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Abuse on online labour markets: targets’ coping, power and control. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONS AND MANAGEMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL 2018. [DOI: 10.1108/qrom-10-2016-1426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report a study of targets’ experiences of cyberbullying on online labour markets (OLMs). In addition to highlighting the link between targets’ coping and power and control, the paper compares conventional and digital workplaces.
Design/methodology/approach
The method of critical hermeneutic phenomenology is used in the inquiry, bringing political and applied dimensions into the study. Targets’ lived experiences, developed as case studies, were explored via conversational interviews. Thematic analysis was undertaken ideographically, followed by ideology-critique at a nomothetic level. Adopting the psychological/behavioural lens of coping theory, ideology-critique identified micro-level schemas and macro-level ideologies that perpetuate target disenfranchisement. Critical hermeneutic phenomenology illuminates the mutuality between individual and social processes, opening new doors to address power inequities through emancipation.
Findings
Hermeneutic phenomenology uncovered the core theme of “pursuing holistic and long-term well-being”, capturing targets’ attempts at working through their experiences of bullying without jeopardising their position on the OLM. Ideology-critique went beyond highlighting problem-focussed and emotion-focussed coping strategies that empowered targets to indicate how participants’ mindsets, anchored in ongoing circumstantial discourses and long-standing social cognitions, inhibited them from questioning the status quo and exploring alternative coping strategies like legislation and collectivisation, thereby curbing their agency. The findings were theorised in terms of power and control vis-à-vis the unique attributes of workplace cyberbullying, comparing and contrasting conventional and virtual workplaces.
Research limitations/implications
The inquiry is limited to the Upwork platform. Including other OLMs will enhance theoretical generalisability.
Practical implications
The study feeds into praxis by alerting digital workers in general and targets in particular about their circumstances, setting the stage for mobilisation.
Originality/value
The study makes several pioneering contributions. First, it reports the first empirical inquiry examining bullying in digital workplaces, importantly, also extending knowledge on cyberbullying across conventional versus digital workplaces. Moreover, OLM research on abuse and harassment has not been undertaken so far. Second, methodologically, the inquiry illustrates the combination of hermeneutic phenomenology with ideology-critique, taking the rare steps of joining ontological perspectives conventionally viewed as divergent and of incorporating a largely neglected micro-level focus into ideology-critique. Third, it furthers theoretical insights into power and control in workplace bullying while drawing links with coping.
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Pongratz HJ. Of crowds and talents: discursive constructions of global online labour. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Spencer DA. Fear and hope in an age of mass automation: debating the future of work. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Lehdonvirta V. Flexibility in the gig economy: managing time on three online piecework platforms. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 148] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Keith MG, Tay L, Harms PD. Systems Perspective of Amazon Mechanical Turk for Organizational Research: Review and Recommendations. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1359. [PMID: 28848474 PMCID: PMC5550837 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 125] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is becoming a prevalent source of quick and cost effective data for organizational research, but there are questions about the appropriateness of the platform for organizational research. To answer these questions, we conducted an integrative review based on 75 papers evaluating the MTurk platform and 250 MTurk samples used in organizational research. This integrative review provides four contributions: (1) we analyze the trends associated with the use of MTurk samples in organizational research; (2) we develop a systems perspective (recruitment system, selection system, and work management system) to synthesize and organize the key factors influencing data collected on MTurk that may affect generalizability and data quality; (3) within each factor, we also use available MTurk samples from the organizational literature to analyze key issues (e.g., sample characteristics, use of attention checks, payment); and (4) based on our review, we provide specific recommendations and a checklist for data reporting in order to improve data transparency and enable further research on this issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa G Keith
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN, United States
| | - Louis Tay
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN, United States
| | - Peter D Harms
- Department of Management, The University of AlabamaTuscaloosa, AL, United States
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Moore S, Hayes LJB. Taking worker productivity to a new level? Electronic Monitoring in homecare-the (re)production of unpaid labour. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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An examination of the equivalency of self-report measures obtained from crowdsourced versus undergraduate student samples. Behav Res Methods 2017; 49:320-334. [PMID: 26907746 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-016-0710-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Increasingly, researchers have begun to explore the potential of the Internet to reach beyond the traditional undergraduate sample. In the present study, we sought to compare the data obtained from a conventional undergraduate college-student sample to data collected via two online survey recruitment platforms. In order to examine whether the data sampled from the three populations were equivalent, we conducted a test of equivalency using inferential confidence intervals-an approach that differs from the more traditional null hypothesis significance testing. The results showed that the data obtained via the two online recruitment platforms, the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing site and the virtual environment of Second Life, were statistically equivalent to the data obtained from the college sample, on the basis of means of standardized measures of psychological stress and sleep quality. Additionally, correlations between the sleep and stress measures were not statistically different between the groups. These results, along with practical considerations for the use of these recruitment platforms, are discussed, and recommendations for other researchers who may be considering the use of these platforms are provided.
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Pink S, Lingard H, Harley J. Refiguring creativity in virtual work: the digital-material construction site. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Schörpf P, Flecker J, Schönauer A, Eichmann H. Triangular love-hate: management and control in creative crowdworking. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Webster J, Wing-Fai L. Introduction: creativity, knowledge and innovation in virtual work. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Symon G. Virtual workers and the global labour market (‘Dynamics of virtual work’ series) by JulietWebster and KeithRandle (eds) (2016), London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-1-137-47918-1, xvii + 279 pp. NEW TECHNOLOGY WORK AND EMPLOYMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Dworkin J, Hessel H, Gliske K, Rudi JH. A Comparison of Three Online Recruitment Strategies for Engaging Parents. FAMILY RELATIONS 2016; 65:550-561. [PMID: 28804184 PMCID: PMC5552070 DOI: 10.1111/fare.12206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Family scientists can face the challenge of effectively and efficiently recruiting normative samples of parents and families. Utilizing the Internet to recruit parents is a strategic way to find participants where they already are, enabling researchers to overcome many of the barriers to in-person recruitment. The present study was designed to compare three online recruitment strategies for recruiting parents: e-mail Listservs, Facebook, and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Analyses revealed differences in the effectiveness and efficiency of data collection. In particular, MTurk resulted in the most demographically diverse sample, in a short period of time, with little cost. Listservs reached a large number of participants and resulted in a comparatively homogeneous sample. Facebook was not successful in recruiting a general sample of parents. Findings provide information that can help family researchers and practitioners be intentional about recruitment strategies and study design.
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Schaarschmidt M. Frontline employees' participation in service innovation implementation: The role of perceived external reputation. EUROPEAN MANAGEMENT JOURNAL 2016; 34:540-549. [DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2016.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
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