Working for an Algorithm: Studying Gig Workers’ Career Experiences

Abstract

A new and rapidly developing phenomenon in the labor market is gig work. Gig work refers to short-term work or a ‘gig’ that sees intermediary platforms match workers with requesters/consumers via an app (Kuhn et al., 2021). Such work sees platform or gig organizations manage workers via algorithms causing a reconfiguration of the traditional employment relationship (Duggan et al., 2020; Kellogg et al., 2020). Although research in this domain is increasing exponentially as evidenced by published papers, special journal issues, books and conference presentations and symposia/workshops, knowledge is still in its infancy, particularly related to micro-level phenomena. In that vein, we propose this symposium to further refine and broaden the understanding of gig workers’ experiences, and in so doing help advance gig work theorization along with offering insights that may make improvements to practice. To achieve this goal, the symposium features four papers. The first one explores the social exchanges in the gig economy ecosystem (Paper 1). The following two studies also focus on the employment relationship between the algorithm and the worker, delineating this relationship in a conceptual piece (Paper 2), and investigating how a more human centered approach of the algorithmic management potentially enhances the sustainability of gig workers’ experiences (Paper 3). The fourth paper examines the challenging environment of gig workers as potentially impeding living a calling (Paper 4). Taken together, this symposium will provide important insights for scholars and practitioners across interrelated disciplines such as careers, human resource management (HRM), and organizational behavior (OB). Tough Love in the Ecosystem of the Gig Economy: An Ethnographic Study on Social Exchange Experiences Presenter: Jana Retkowsky; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Jos Akkermans; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Sanne Nijs; Human Resource Studies, Tilburg U. Presenter: Paul G W Jansen; Vrije U. Amsterdam Psychological Contracts in the Age of the Algorithm: A Gig Work Perspective Presenter: Ultan Sherman; Cork U. Business School Presenter: Ronan Carbery; Cork U. Business School Presenter: Anthony McDonnell; U. College Cork Presenter: Michael J. Morley; U. of Limerick Between Utopia and Pragmatism: Balancing Relationships Related to Algorithmic Management Presenter: Chloé Brassart; U. of Liège Presenter: Francois Pichault; U. of Liege Gig Work Challenges and Work Alienation: Hindering Factors for Living a Calling? Presenter: Lorenz Affolter; - Presenter: Daniel Spurk; U. of Bern Presenter: Caroline Straub; Bern U. of Applied Sciences