Skill Spanning in the Online Labor Market: A Double-Edged Sword?

Freelancers in online labor markets often display many skills in their profiles to increase their chances of being hired. However, such behavior may lead to the skills they display straddling multiple categories, that is, “skill spanning.” In this paper, we extend the concept of category spanning into online labor markets in the form of skill spanning and empirically examine (1) how freelancers’ skill spanning affects employers’ hiring decisions for two different types of jobs (low- and high-skill jobs, respectively), and (2) how freelancers’ skill matching moderates the effects of skill spanning on employers’ hiring decisions. Based on a unique dataset of 12,428 high-skill jobs and 19,875 low-skill jobs on a leading online labor platform, we find that freelancers’ skill spanning has different impacts on employers’ hiring decisions for these two job types. Specifically, for high-skill jobs, freelancers’ skill spanning reduces their likelihood of winning contracts; however, for low-skill jobs, freelancers’ skill spanning and their probabilities of winning contracts demonstrate an inverse U-shape relationship. Furthermore, freelancers’ skill matching can moderate the negative effects of skill spanning for high-skill jobs but not for low-skill jobs. Our findings provide guidelines for different stakeholders in online labor markets, including freelancers and platform owners

To Cooperate or to Compete in the Gig Economy? Endorsements and the Performance of Freelancers in Online Labor Markets

Online labor markets connect buyers with gig workers across several task categories. A buyer evaluates workers’ quality based on their past performance encapsulated in ratings and reviews. However, these ratings can be inflated and arguably fail to assess workers’ true quality. Literature shows that worker characteristics like skills, experience, and heuristic cues can measure worker quality. In this study, we explore how gig workers’ personality traits in terms of Social Value Orientation (SVO) affects their performance on an online labor platform. We measure SVO from peer endorsements among workers on an online labor platform. Our results show that a cooperative SVO, where gig workers endorse each other, is more beneficial to the stakeholders of online labor platforms than competitive and individualistic SVO. We also explore how such cooperative behavior evolves by leveraging social network analysis methods to examine the endorsements generated among gig workers. We observe that reciprocity, homophily and worker popularity induces such cooperative behavior

Moral Hazards and Effects of IT-enabled Monitoring Systems in Online Labor Markets

This paper investigates how IT-enabled monitoring systems mitigate moral hazard in an online labor market and their effect on market competition. We exploit a quasi-experiment at Freelancer when it introduced an IT-enabled monitoring system in 2015. We use a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to identify the treatment effect of the monitoring system on employer contractor choice, market competition, and employer surplus. We found that the IT-enabled monitoring system lowers the employers’ willingness to pay the reputation premiums. Meanwhile, comparing the trend of the control group, the IT-enabled monitoring system raised the employer surplus in hourly projects and increased the number of bids. Our result suggests that IT-enabled monitoring systems have a significant effect on alleviating moral hazards, reducing agency costs, and facilitating market competition

The Impact of Politeness in Bidding Descriptions on Hiring Decisions in Online Labor Markets

Due to the lack of face-to-face interactions in online labor market, employers often have to rely on bidding descriptions to assess the interpersonal aspects of freelancers. Since politeness is a potential indicator of one’s willingness and ability to facilitate cooperation, our study examines the impact of politeness in bidding descriptions on hiring decisions. Based on data collected from Freelancer.com, we differentiate the politeness of bidding descriptions with textual analysis. Surprisingly, our findings reveal that politeness in bidding descriptions is negatively associated with the probability of getting hired, and the association is negatively moderated by the capability of freelancers and the textual similarity of bidding descriptions. Specifically, the association is positive for incapable workers or unique bidding descriptions but becomes more negative for capable workers or bidding descriptions similar to others. The findings contribute novel insights on the contingent impact of politeness in bidding descriptions in online labor market

Placing the university: thinking in and beyond globalization

In some respects, the impact of globalization on universities is well rehearsed (competition for international students; the drive for status in global rankings; the opening of overseas campuses; the dream of massive open online courses and other forms of digital education), but the relationship between universities as place-based institutions and globalization is less well understood. It is on that this chapter focuses. Drawing on work undertaken as part of an Economic and Social Research Council project (“Higher Education and Regional Social Transformation”) the author sets the arguments in a wider context. He explores the extent to which and ways in which universities have become key players in the reimagination of their city regions in a (neoliberal) global context. As well as reflecting on the wider public (and local) role of universities, he also considers how universities use the tools available to them to position themselves effectively as successful businesses within the new world in which they find themselves

Korkean osaamisen freelance-alustat: luottamusta rakentavien mekanismien vaikutus huippuosaavien ohjelmistoalan freelancereiden houkuttelemisessa

Freelance economy is growing and platforms intermediating freelance workforce are increasingly utilized in organizations. The market is booming especially in high-skilled services, such as in software development and design, which enable talented freelance software professionals to charge higher prices than they would earn in traditional employment. Therefore, increasing number of highly skilled individuals work as freelancers either independently or through different platforms. Moreover, freelancing provides e.g. better work/life balance, flexibility and autonomy. Freelance platforms are approached due to their ability to provide enhanced matchmaking and build trust between freelancers and companies which is in general, difficult for individual freelancers to do on their own. However, current research has mainly focused on low-skilled freelancing and large online labor platforms that intermediate relatively cheap remotely performed high-skilled freelance work. Additionally, the crucial role of trust building on freelance platforms is lacking comprehensive academic research. This thesis approaches the identified research gap by focusing on providing better understanding of current trends in high-skilled freelance markets and the strategical significance of trust building mechanisms and factors on high-skilled freelance platforms focusing on the top talent. The literature review of this study explores recent research and business literature about freelance economy, high- skilled freelance platforms and trust building on them, whereas the empirical part aims to provide comprehensive overview of trust building mechanisms on high-skilled freelance platforms and factors that drive companies and top freelance software professionals to use platforms. This qualitative case study is conducted by interviewing 6 case companies and 9 high-skilled freelance software professionals. The empirical data is analyzed following the thematic analysis method introduced by Braun and Clarke (2006). The findings of this thesis indicate that platforms implementing the characteristics of tech talent agencies are most likely to attract top freelance software professionals to join the platform. Additionally, this thesis provides a precise categorization of high-skilled freelance platforms and identifies the key trust building mechanisms and factors as well as their interrelations on high-skilled freelance platforms. Finally, a process framework for trust building on high-skilled freelance platforms is presented. The framework provides a new approach for viewing trust building and understanding the interrelations between each trust building mechanisms and factors.Freelance-talous on kasvamassa ja organisaatiot hyödyntävät yhä useammin alustoja, jotka välittävät freelance-työvoimaa. Markkinat kukoistavat erityisesti korkeaa ammattitaitoa vaativissa palveluissa, kuten ohjelmistokehityksessä ja designissa, mikä on mahdollistanut korkeampien hintojen laskuttamisen freelance-työssä kuin perinteisessä työsuhteessa. Sen vuoksi, yhä useammat erittäin ammattitaitoiset yksilöt työskentelevät freelancerina joko itsenäisesti tai erilaisten alustojen kautta. Lisäksi, freelance-työ tarjoaa esimerkiksi paremman työ- ja muun elämän tasapainon, joustavuuden sekä itsenäisyyden. Freelance-alustojen puoleen käännytään, koska ne helpottavat sopivan freelancer/yritys -parin löytämistä ja rakentavat luottamusta freelancereiden ja yritysten välillä. Yleisesti ottaen, luottamuksen rakentaminen yritysten kanssa on yksittäisille freelancereille vaikeaa. Näistä asioista huolimatta, nykyiset tutkimukset ovat pääasiassa keskittyneet matalan osaamisen freelance-työhön sekä online- alustoihin, jotka välittävät suhteellisen halpaa korkean osaamisen freelance-työtä, joka tehdään etänä internetin välityksellä. Lisäksi, luottamuksen rakentamisen kriittistä roolia freelance-alustoissa ei ole tutkittu riittävän kokonaisvaltaisesti. Tämä tutkimus lähestyy tunnistettua tutkimuksellista aukkoa tarjoamalla paremman ymmärryksen nykyisistä trendeistä korkean osaamisen freelance-markkinoilla sekä luottamusta rakentavien mekanismien ja tekijöiden strategisesta merkityksestä korkean osaamisen freelance-alustoissa, jotka keskittyvät huippuosaajiin. Tutkimuksen kirjallisuuskatsaus tarkastelee viimeaikaisia tutkimuksia ja bisneskirjallisuutta, jotka käsittelevät freelance-taloutta, korkean osaamisen freelance-alustoja sekä luottamuksen rakentamista niissä, kun taas empiirinen osuus pyrkii tarjoamaan kattavan yleiskuvan luottamusta rakentavista mekanismeista korkean osaamisen freelance-alustoissa sekä tekijöistä, jotka ajavat yritykset ja huippuosaavat ohjelmistoalan freelancerit käyttämään alustoja. Tämä laadullinen tapaustutkimus on suoritettu haastattelemalla kuutta tapausyritystä ja yhdeksää korkeaa osaamista vaativissa tehtävissä olevaa ohjelmistoalan freelanceria. Empiirinen aineisto on analysoitu noudattamalla teema-analyysimenetelmää, jonka Braun ja Clarke (2006) ovat esitelleet. Tutkimuksen löydökset osoittavat, että todennäköisimmin huippu-freelancereita houkuttelevat alustat, jotka omaksuvat tech talent -agentuurien ominaispiirteet. Lisäksi, tämä tutkimus tarjoaa korkean osaamisen freelance-alustojen täsmällisen luokittelun sekä tunnistaa keskeisimmät luottamusta rakentavat mekanismit ja tekijät, kuten myös niiden väliset suhteet korkean osaamisen freelance- alustoissa. Lopuksi tutkimus esittelee viitekehyksen, joka kuvaa luottamuksen rakentamisen prosessia korkean osaamisen freelance-alustoissa. Viitekehys tarjoaa uuden lähestymistavan luottamuksen rakentamisen tarkasteluun sekä luottamusta rakentavien mekanismien ja tekijöiden keskinäisten suhteiden ymmärtämiseen

Universities in the Market for Continuing Higher Education

The purpose of the paper is to explain why and how American universities have taken the lead in continuing education compared to their European counterparts. In a first step we will discuss different notions of continuing education and develop an analytical framework to handle its various forms. In a second step, we will develop a theoretical typology in the form of a morphography in order to scrutinize the basic structures of a system of continuing higher education. Third, using our morphography, we will introduce some empirical insight from a case study that was pursued at the Pennsylvania State University in July and August 2001. We con-clude with our assessments as to which elements from the American system of higher and con-tinuing education may be transferable to the European tradition.Continuing Education;Higher Education;Morphography

Singapore's Regionalization Blueprint: The Empirics of the Case for Selective Intervention

Conference theme: Bridging with the Other: The Importance of Dialogue in International Business</p

IT Professionals in the Gig Economy - The Success of IT Freelancers on Digital Labor Platforms

When IT work is performed through digital labor markets, IT professionals have a high degree of personal responsibility for their careers and must use appropriate strategies to be successful. This paper investigates the success of IT freelancers on digital labor platforms. Drawing on signaling theory, a dataset of 7166 IT freelancers is used to examine how activating, pointing, and supporting signals lead to success. Analysis was carried out using negative binomial regression. The results indicate that the three signaling types positively influence the objective career success of IT freelancers. This paper contributes to the literature by testing signaling theory in the new context of digital labor platforms, investigating IT specifics, and proposing support as a new type of signal for IT professionals on digital labor platforms. In practice, the results provide guidelines for IT freelancers to improve their success within their careers