Governance mechanisms and metrics for digital platform workers : Multiple case study of digital labour platforms

Aim: This study aims to reveal which governance mechanisms and their metrics digital labour platforms use and how they are used to govern platform workers. Moreover, this study's purpose is to analyse three different digital labour platform companies related to the governance of platform workers. The study aims to form and test a framework for the digital labour platform governance mechanisms and their metrics based on a literature review and empirical findings. Framework: The study framework combines traditional firm governance, digital platform governance and crowdwork governance theories. In addition, the concepts of control and coordi-nation in governance mechanisms are presented in the literature review of governance theory. The themes are combined to form a framework for digital labour platform governance mechanisms for platform workers. Methodology: The empirical research section is formed with qualitative research and multiple case study method. The approach of the study is subjectivist. Moreover, interpretivism and critical realism views are used because they fit the people-oriented and multi-dimensional research theme. The research data is collected with interviews of the case companies’ representatives who were in positions to know the subjects. The findings reveal what and how governance mechanisms and metrics are used in digital labour platforms to govern platform workers. In addition, the results show two new governance mechanisms: platform worker training and activity monitoring. Governance mechanisms identified include access control, activity monitoring, task management, incentive management, contract management, and training in every case company. In contrast, only two companies used reputation monitoring, quality control, and behavioural control. The findings differ somewhat between the case companies. The reason for the variation between the companies might be due to the variety in the level of autonomy and skill levels of platform workers. The governance mechanisms and metrics findings are brought together into a framework. Also, this study revealed new information about governance metrics of digital labour platforms, which had a little information in the literature. Thus, the governance metrics found in this study give significant new knowledge about the subject. They help to show how firms can use the data for platform worker governance in digital platforms. For instance, user logins, system usage, and profile completion rate measure platform workers' activity. These findings can help digital labour platform companies better understand many possibilities in ways to govern digital labour workers.Tavoite: Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää digitaalisten työtä välittävien alustojen alustatyöntekijöihin kohdistuvia hallintamekanismeja ja niiden mittareita. Tarkoituksena on analysoida kolmen case yrityksen alustatoimintaa suhteessa alustatyöntekijöiden hallintaan. Tutkimuksessa muodostetaan viitekehys digitaalisten alustojen hallintamekanismeista ja niiden mittareista kirjallisuuskatsauksen ja empiirisen tutkimuksen perusteella. Viitekehys: Tämän tutkimuksen viitekehyksessä yhdistyy perinteisten yritysten hallintamekanismeja, joukkotyöhön liitettyjä hallintamekanismeja sekä digitaalisten alustojen jo tiedettyjä hallintamekanismeja. Lisäksi kontrollin ja koordinaation konseptit liittyen työntekijöiden hallintaan esitetään kirjallisuuskatsauksessa ja ne liitetään osaksi viitekehystä. Myös joitain vähän tiedettyjä hallintamittareita on lisätty viitekehykseen. Näistä teemoista muodostuu tutkimuksen viitekehys alustojen alustatyöntekijöille suunnatuille hallintamekanismeille ja niiden mittareille. Metodologia: Empiirinen tutkimus koostuu laadullisesta tutkimuksesta ja usean tapaustutkimuksen menetelmästä. Tutkimuksen lähestymistapa on subjektiivinen. Lisäksi interpretivismin ja kriittisen realismin lähestymistapoja käytetään tutkimuksen analysoimisessa, sillä ne soveltuvat tutkimuksen ihmislähtöiseen ja moniulotteiseen teemaan. Tutkimuksen aineistonkeruumenetelmänä käytetään case yritysten edustajien haastatteluja. Tulokset: Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että mitä ja kuinka hallintamekanismeja ja niiden mittareita käytetään digitaalisilla alustoilla alustatyöntekijöiden hallitsemiseen. Tulokset osoittavat myös kaksi uutta hallintamekanismia: alustatyöntekijöiden kouluttamisen ja aktiivisuuden valvomisen. Hallintamekanismeista tunnistettiin pääsyn valvonta, tehtävänhallinta, sopimushallinta, ja kouluttaminen kaikissa case-yrityksissä. Sen sijaan vain kahdessa yrityksessä tunnistettiin maineen valvonta, laadun valvonta ja käyttäytymisenhallinta. Syyt vaihteluihin yritysten välillä saattavat johtua alustatyöntekijöiden erilaisista autonomian tasoista ja taitotasoista. Tulokset hallintamekanismeista ja niiden mittareista digitaalisilla alustoilla on kerätty yhteen viitekehykseen. Tutkimuksessa selvisi uutta tietoa hallintamittareista, joista ei ollut aiemmin paljon tietoa kirjallisuudessa. Siksi hallintamittarit, jotka onnistuttiin löytämään tässä tutkimuksessa antavat merkittävää uutta tietoa aiheesta. Ne auttavat yrityksiä ymmärtämään kuinka hyödyntää dataa alustatyöntekijöiden hallitsemisessa. esimerkiksi aktiivisuuden valvomisessa voidaan käyttää mittareina käyttäjän sisäänkirjautumisia, järjestelmän käyttämistä, ja profiilin valmiusastetta. Tulokset auttavat yrityksiä huomaamaan monipuolisesti mahdollisuuksia alustatyöntekijöiden hallitsemisessa ja ottamaan huomioon alustatyöntekijöiden autonomian ja osaamistasot hallintamekanismeja valittaessa

CROWDWORK PLATFORMS: JUXTAPOSING CENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED GOVERNANCE

Crowdwork is a novel form of digitally mediated work arrangement that is managed and organized through online labor platforms. This paper focuses on the governance of platforms that facilitate creative work—that is, complex work tasks that require high-level skill and creative workers. Crowdwork platform governance faces numerous challenges as a result of technology mediation, scalable and distributed workers, and temporary work arrangements. Creative crowdwork platforms, such as Topcoder, typically require additional governance structures to manage complex tasks. However, we know relatively little about creative crowdwork platform governance, as most existing studies focus on routine work platforms, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk. Accordingly, this paper explores how incumbent and insurgent creative crowdwork platforms are governed under centralized and decentralized modes. We conducted a comparative case study based on the analysis of two different cases: Topcoder, a successful commercial platform with a largely centralized governance structure, and CanYa, an emerging innovative platform based on blockchain technology with more decentralized governance. We identified and classified different governance elements related to work control and work coordination. In addition, we explored the characteristics of creative crowdwork platform governance with different degrees of centralization. Keywords: Crowdwork Governance, Creative Crowdwork, Centralized Platforms, Decentralized Platforms, Blockchain, Tokenomics

Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges

"The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Societal grand challenges have moved from a marginal concern to a mainstream issue within the field of organization and management studies. Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges unpacks how diverse forms of organizing help tackle - or reinforce - grand challenges, while emphasizing the need for researchers to expand their methodological repertoire and reflect upon scholarly practices. This edited collection offers an organizational perspective on societal grand challenges in three sections: Diverse Forms of Organizing and Societal Grand Challenges; Scholarship and Societal Grand Challenges; Reflections and Outlook. The articles offer empirical and conceptual work that focus on a wide variety of regions including Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, and engage with multiple grand challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, decent work, hunger, inequality, and poverty. Drawing on varied theoretical lenses, the authors take stock of recent developments in the literature, present an overview of the current thinking, and set a foundation for future research on grand challenges in organization and management studies. The articles provide inspiration, insights, and instruments for developing timely and relevant knowledge to engage with the pressing societal grand challenges of our time.

Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges

"The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Societal grand challenges have moved from a marginal concern to a mainstream issue within the field of organization and management studies. Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges unpacks how diverse forms of organizing help tackle - or reinforce - grand challenges, while emphasizing the need for researchers to expand their methodological repertoire and reflect upon scholarly practices. This edited collection offers an organizational perspective on societal grand challenges in three sections: Diverse Forms of Organizing and Societal Grand Challenges; Scholarship and Societal Grand Challenges; Reflections and Outlook. The articles offer empirical and conceptual work that focus on a wide variety of regions including Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, and engage with multiple grand challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, decent work, hunger, inequality, and poverty. Drawing on varied theoretical lenses, the authors take stock of recent developments in the literature, present an overview of the current thinking, and set a foundation for future research on grand challenges in organization and management studies. The articles provide inspiration, insights, and instruments for developing timely and relevant knowledge to engage with the pressing societal grand challenges of our time.

Relations Between Actors in Digital Platform Ecosystems: A Literature Review

Digital platform ecosystems are a popular field of study in information systems and an economic structure of significant importance worldwide. However, we know little about what relations exist between and among actors on digital platforms. Findings of mutually beneficial interactions, cooperation, and value creation contrast findings of power, dependency, control, governance, rules, and competition in the ecosystem. To shed light on this issue, we conduct a structured literature review of information systems and management literature. In 144 studies, we find 19 different relations between and among platform owner, complementors, and end-users. We contribute to research in three ways. First, by discovering that instability of roles on digital platforms explains dual roles and the dynamics of roles more holistically than concepts that account for specific dual roles. Second, by finding weighting in the relations. Third, by observing nestedness of relations

A New Era of Control: Understanding Algorithmic Control in the Gig Economy

With the promise of autonomy, flexibility, and “being your own boss” the gig economy is growing to be one of the most important economic and social developments of our time. This growth is possible due to the platform’s reliance on algorithmic control, which comprises the use of algorithmic technologies to control and align workers\u27 behavior. Conducting a multiple-case study on the use of algorithmic control in two app-work platforms (Uber & Mjam) and two crowdwork platforms (Upwork & Freelancer) on the basis of established control concepts, we develop a holistic understanding of algorithmic control and show how platforms realize this new form of control along three dimensions: control allocation, control formalization, and control adaptiveness. We contribute also by introducing the concepts of control artifacts and internalized control as a step forward in explaining algorithmic control phenomena

The governance of gig platform organizations in developing countries

A fundamental endeavor for a gig platform organization is the governance of its user network, on which value creation and capture critically depend. Despite the global emergence of gig platform organizations, there is little understanding of the local context in which governance decisions are made. To address this, we explore the role of institutional voids in on-demand platform governance in developing countries. By studying ride-hailing platform organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, we conceptualize enabling and coercive governance modes and uncover distinct patterns within to address institutional voids. We discuss the theoretical implications for platform governance research in developing countries

Revolutionizing Crowdworking Campaigns: Conquering Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard with the Help of Smart Contracts

Crowdworking is increasingly being applied by companies to outsource tasks beyond their core competencies flexibly and cost-effectively to an unknown group. However, the anonymous and financially incentivized nature of crowdworkers creates information asymmetries and conflicts of interest, leading to inefficiencies and intensifying the principal-agent problem. Our paper offers a solution to the widespread problem of inefficient Crowdworking campaigns. We first derive the currently applied Crowdworking campaign process based on a qualitative study. Subsequently, we identify the broadest adverse selection and moral hazard problems in the process. We then analyze how the blockchain application of smart contracts can counteract those challenges and develop a process model that maps a Crowdworking campaign using smart contracts. We explain how our developed process significantly reduces adverse selection and moral hazard at each stage. Thus, our research provides approaches to make online labor more attractive and transparent for companies and online workers

Ghost workers : the essence and importance for creating scientific knowledge

Purpose: The gig economy involves short-term employment of staff via online platforms to complete specific tasks. These workers are referred to as "giggers" or "ghost workers". While the publications to date focus on the specificity of work or the motivation of giggers, the issue of their importance in the context of creating scientific knowledge remains insufficiently recognized. More and more often it is postulated that the inclusion of various stakeholders in research becomes some obligation, which is part of the democratization of science, its openness and inclusiveness. The purpose of this article is to identify the importance of ghost workers in the creation of scientific knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The publication is based on a systematic analysis of the literature on the subject published in the years 2006-2022. The following databases were used. Findings: The results of the systematic literature review indicate that it is possible to include a gig worker at every stage of the research process: identifying the general study area, selecting topic and developing a focus, deciding the approach, formulating a plan, collecting information, analysing, and presenting of findings. Originality/value: The publication contributes to the development of research on the emerging issues of gig work in the context of creating scientific knowledge using crowdsourcing platforms