The Impacts of Platform Quality on Gig Workers’ Autonomy and Job Satisfaction

Gig economy jobs rely heavily on the use of platforms including mobile applications. Even though such platforms are necessary to participate in the gig economy, we know very little about how the quality of these platforms affects gig workers. Drawing from a survey of Uber drivers, in this paper we examine the impacts of platform quality on gig workers’ job autonomy and job satisfaction. Preliminary results suggest that gig workers working in the high quality of platforms are more likely to have greater job autonomy and satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by identifying platform quality as an important factor of gig workers’ job autonomy and satisfaction and suggesting possible applications of the preliminary findings in future research.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145612/1/cscwp044-kimA.pd

Uber Effort: The Production of Worker Consent in Online Ride Sharing Platforms

The rise of the online gig economy alters ways of working. Mediated by algorithmically programmed mobile apps, platforms such as Uber and Lyft allow workers to work by driving and completing rides at any time or in any place that the drivers choose. This hybrid form of labor in an online gig economy which combines independent contract work with computer-mediated work differs from traditional manufacturing jobs in both its production activity and production relations. Through nine interviews with Lyft/Uber drivers, I found that workers’ consent, which was first articulated by Michael Burawoy in the context of the manufacturing economy, is still present in the work of the online gig economy in post-industrial capitalism. Workers willingly engage in the on-demand work not only to earn money but also to play a learning game motivated by the ambiguity of the management system, in which process they earn a sense of self-satisfaction and an illusion of autonomous control. This research points to the important role of technology in shaping contemporary labor process and suggests the potential mechanism which produces workers’ consent in technology-driven workplaces

Health Implications in Regards to the Changing Nature of Work

This theoretical paper is relevant to nontraditional workers, traditional employees, and businesses searching for ways to enhance workers’ health and well-being. Businesses should also find this information helpful if they are aiming to increase their bottom line. The changing nature of work has health implications for both nontraditional workers and traditional employees; however, it has not been readily studied. I review the current literature available and analyze the health implications for both nontraditional workers and traditional employees. After reviewing a variety of literature I propose two theoretical propositions. My first proposition is that the changing nature of work, specifically the increase of workplace flexibility, benefits traditional employees more so than nontraditional workers. Secondly, I propose that nontraditional workers are likely to endure more of the negative health implications in response to the changing nature of work when compared to traditional employees. Ultimately, there needs to be further research done on comparing traditional employees to nontraditional workers and further investigation on what kind of health implications we should expect from the changing nature of work. From reviewing and discussing the negative health implications, it becomes evident that businesses need to focus on enhancing the health and well-being of all workers. I conclude by suggesting ways in which businesses can achieve a happier and healthier workforce

Perceived Organizational Support in the Face of Algorithmic Management: A Conceptual Model

Organizational support theory proposes that employees develop global beliefs concerning the degree to which an organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. These beliefs, known as perceived organizational support (POS), are related to a number of positive employee outcomes, including: job satisfaction, work effort, performance, etc. Three categories of POS antecedents have been recognized in the literature: perceived supervisor support; fairness of organizational procedures; and organizational rewards and job conditions. In this paper, we explore these antecedent categories in the gig-work context where organizations replace human managers with algorithmic management practices and data-driven procedures. In doing so, we develop a new conceptual model that centers on the role that a gig-organization’s algorithm plays in engendering POS by promoting perceptions of fairness and support, and by managing the provision of performance-based rewards. Contributions and future research avenues are discussed

Between a rock and a hard place:Freedom, flexibility, precarity and vulnerability in the gig economy in Africa

The world of work is changing. Communications technologies and digital platforms have enabled some types of work to be delivered from anywhere in the world by anyone with a computer and an internet connection. This digitally-mediated work brings jobs to parts of the world traditionally characterized by low incomes and high unemployment rates. As such, it has been touted by governments, third-sector organizations, and the private sector as a novel strategy of economic development. Drawing on a four-year study with 65 workers in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda, we examine the development implications of the gig economy on labour in Africa. We offer four analytical development dimensions through which platform-based remote work impacts the lives and livelihoods of African workers, i.e. freedom, flexibility, precarity and vulnerablity. We argue that these dimensions should be understood in a continuum to better explain the working conditions and lives of workers in the gig economy

Employment and Working Conditions of Selected Types of Platform Work

Platform work is a form of employment that uses an online platform to match the supply of and demand for paid labour. In Europe, platform work is still small in scale but is rapidly developing. The types of work offered through platforms are ever-increasing, as are the challenges for existing regulatory frameworks. This report explores the working and employment conditions of three of the most common types of platform work in Europe. For each of these types, Eurofound assesses the physical and social environment, autonomy, employment status and access to social protection, and earnings and taxation based on interviews with platform workers. A comparative analysis of the regulatory frameworks applying to platform work in 18 EU Member States accompanies this review. This looks into workers’ employment status, the formal relationships between clients, workers and platforms, and the organisation and representation of workers and platforms

Workers’ Affective Commitment in The Gig Economy: The Role of IS Quality, Organizational Support, and Fairness

Background: The rapidly growing gig economy brings lots of opportunities and challenges, and one of them is workers’ affective commitment. Because of the gig economy’s nature, gig workers depend on the technology-enabled platform to finish their tasks. We investigate how gig workers’ perception of the platform’s quality, or IS quality, will affect how they perceive organizational support and fairness, which further affects their affective commitment. Method: We surveyed 239 Uber drivers in Indonesia to test our model via snow-balling technique. We used PLS with a second-order formative construct model to validate our hypotheses. Results: The results showed that the two dimensions of IS quality, information quality and system quality, were positively associated with organizational support. Only information quality was positively associated with fairness. Both organizational support and fairness were positively associated with affective commitment. Conclusion: For uber drivers, information quality and system quality of the Uber App serve as drivers of perceived organization support. Information quality also contributes to perceived fairness. Drivers who perceive high organization support and fairness are more likely to be affectively committed to the organization