Abstract
Growth of the platform economy has been accompanied by critiques of the fragmented, isolated and precarious nature of the employment it offers. Yet, little is known about how creative freelancers perceive the meaning of work on the platforms. Based on 40 interviews with freelancers, clients, platform owners and industry experts, this paper reveals that most freelancers are concerned about how operating through the platform, and their dependence on it, is undermining the meaningfulness of their work. Freelancers find that the platforms are eroding both the manifest (i.e. monetary) and latent (i.e. non‐monetary) meaning of their work although they are mostly concerned about the latent element of meaning. The analysis reveals that the small group of freelancers who pursue meaningful work and earn a sustainable income on platforms are those with strong entrepreneurial orientation.
Highlights
The number of freelancers participating in digital freelancing platforms1 has increased over the years to a point where most global platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, Upwork and Freelancer.com boast tens of millions of active members (Pongratz, 2018)
This paper focuses on creative professionals on digital freelancing platforms to examine the ‘meaningful work’ construct in the context of platform economy jobs
Do creative freelancers find their work on the platforms more meaningful, empowering and liberating compared to alternative work options? Or do they find themselves stuck with non‐fulfilling and precarious work? In order to address these questions in this article, we develop an understanding of the prevailing work conditions in digital freelancing platforms and workers’ perceptions of the meaning of their work
Summary
The number of freelancers participating in digital freelancing platforms1 has increased over the years to a point where most global platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, Upwork and Freelancer.com boast tens of millions of active members (Pongratz, 2018). The burgeoning literature does not examine what constitutes meaning for creative workers in the platform economy, what detracts meaning for them in platform employment, and who is more or less likely to experience meaningful work in the digital freelancing platforms. It provides insights into how freelancers undertaking these tasks perceive meaning in the platform economy work.
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