Abstract
Crowdwork on virtual platforms is developing into a recognisable employment and business model on the internet. Despite their many differences, the platforms that have emerged over the last few years have one thing in common: a crowd of individual producers and capabilities is mobilised – in the form of labour, accommodation or durable goods – onto the market in cooperation and competition with firms from traditional industries. This study analyses the factors crowdworkers consider relevant in their work and the measures they view as helpful in improving their working relationship with platforms. It is apparent that, in the best tradition of the peer economy, this new type of worker still considers learning and fun important factors for his or her engagement. Despite these effectively intrinsic factors, workers are quite aware of their situation, which does not put them on equal terms with the platform’s algorithms and customer focus. This awareness of power disparities does not lead them, however, to reconsider their effectiveness when it comes to renegotiating terms with the platform: when specifically asked about the role of unions, the majority of crowdworkers did not expect help in self-organisation from these institutions. Considering the difficulties in regulating the market for platforms, (self-) organisation of crowdworkers, however, is an important prerequisite in rebalancing the power structure dominated by platform owners and their customers. Selforganisation is something digital natives are quite familiar with and we have to assume that crowdworkers are perhaps overconfident in their abilities. And due to the novelty of this industry, this confidence has not been shaken yet by labour disputes or even by growing dissatisfaction with platforms.
Highlights
Working on virtual platforms, whose function is to match up the skills of sellers with assignments set by buyers, is a new phenomenon
The resulting “pull economy” differs from the traditional “push economy”, which allocated these resources on the basis of supposedly accurate plans and sought to develop them (Hagel et al, 2010, pp. 31 ff.; Bauwens et al, 2012, pp. 29 ff.)
There are some initial indicators that the dissatisfaction with the existing power asymmetries on commercial platforms will increase with the length of time spent on the platform.[12]
Summary
Working on virtual platforms, whose function is to match up the skills of sellers with assignments set by buyers, is a new phenomenon. New principles of cooperation emerged: the intrinsically motivated peers worked in a self-directed manner and autonomously sought out their challenges.[2] On the basis of an often given “core”, thousands of programmers sought and found opportunities to participate in such open source projects all around the world The results of these collaborations were made available free of charge as commons, and everyone was invited to participate in improving them (Bauwens, 2005). This can create unique and disruptive situations on the market, since from one day to the both the peers’ working capacities and their -far commercially unused assets are brought onto the market (Uber, Airbnb, etc.) via platforms These compete with existing providers in the transport, hotel and media industries quite successfully, since these platforms are often able to draw on the high commitment of the crowdworker, who has mutated into a micro-entrepreneur, as well as the lower overhead costs, high flexibility and innovative customer interfaces (ibid.). There are some initial indicators that the dissatisfaction with the existing power asymmetries on commercial platforms will increase with the length of time spent on the platform.[12]
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