On-demand Work Research Articles

Michael Rawling and Joellen Riley Munton (2024) Regulating gig work: decent labour standards in a world of on-demand work, Routledge, New York, 123pp, $227.20 (hardcover)

Michael Rawling and Joellen Riley Munton (2024) Regulating gig work: decent labour standards in a world of on-demand work, Routledge, New York, 123pp, $227.20 (hardcover)

The Lesser of Two Evils? Explaining Chinese Rural Migrant Workers’ Preference for On-demand Food Delivery Work With Reference to the Legal Framework

Drawing on a series of interviews with on-demand food delivery riders, who are rural migrant workers, this paper seeks to explain the workers’ decision to give up stable jobs in factories in favour of largely unregulated and precarious on-demand work. Focusing on those aspects of the legal framework which shape workers’ decisions, it presents the explanation under the dual banners of ‘income’ and ‘freedom and flexibility’. In terms of income, Chinese law often enables low factory wages and a reliance on overtime; migrant workers view social insurance contributions as a loss; issues with payroll and wage arrears are significant. In terms of freedom and flexibility, insufficient rest rights lead to inadequate breaks for assembly line workers and, compounded by unspecified ‘special working time’ permit physically unbearable shifts without extra compensation. Age and gender discrimination are prevalent both in factories and various sectors. In contrast, on-demand delivery work has relatively low barriers to entry.

‘You can book an interpreter the same way you order your Uber': (re)interpreting work and digital labour platforms

ABSTRACT The gig economy, encompassing on-demand work via platforms, has grown exponentially with significant consequences for the interpreting industry. Arguing that this tendency of the interpreting industry towards gig work reflects wider shifts in both labour-capital relations and the role of technology in the economy, this study explores ‘gig’ interpreting work from a labour process theory perspective. Leveraging a qualitative case study of three platforms in Northwestern Europe, as well as interviews with platform companies’ managers and interpreters, the study indicates that platformisation is impacting business models, organisation, and intermediation of interpreting work, with implications for interpreters’ working conditions. The study finds that engaging in platform work exposes interpreters to risks related to monetary factors, algorithmic control, individualisation of employment relations, on-demand availability, and subjugation to a digital form of supply-demand intermediation. In contrast, platform companies push towards maximising interests of profit and flexibility, harnessing the potential of gig work as the natural, entrepreneurial extension of interpreters’ self-employment status. The study contributes to interpreting and sociological studies on workplace developments in digital capitalism, suggesting that the configuration of interpreting in platform-mediated production lubricates an exploitative labour-capital relationship.

On-Demand Work in the Gig Economy: The Experience of Young Immigrants in Quebec

On-Demand Work in the Gig Economy: The Experience of Young Immigrants in Quebec

Embracing the Gig Economy

The post-pandemic economic landscape has witnessed the emergence of a worldwide sharing economy system, commonly known as the ‘gig economy’. This system represents a significant transformation in labor and services exchange characterized by short-term jobs, freelance, or on-demand work arrangements facilitated by digital platforms. Recently, the gig economy has emerged as a highly promising employment preference due to its flexibility. However, it has also led to significant inequality issues for traditional workers. Moreover, this sharing economy system also exerts substantial impacts on the environment.

She has got a gig: affordances of on-demand work apps for marginalised women enduring time scarcity

ABSTRACT On-demand work applications (ODWAs), a type of digital platforms (DPs), are technology-enabled intermediaries for gig workers. In this paper, we study these platforms and their impact on women belonging to the low socio-economic section in a developing economy. These women act as primary unpaid workers while being expected to make an economic contribution. Hence, they suffer from time scarcity where they need to find mechanisms to generate economic success from the limited time they have, in a largely informal economy. We employed the theoretical lens of affordances to delineate the affordances that are provided by the various features of ODWAs and their impact on life satisfaction of women. We conducted a mixed method study using interviews of 20 female gig workers, supplemented by a survey of 927 workers on one of the largest ODWAs in India. Our analysis points to the sense of identity and individuality that these platforms provide as well as lowering the market boundaries for greater inclusion. Our research is significant from both, the information systems and inclusion research perspectives, as it contributes to the theoretical understanding of the impact of DPs on breaking societal structures and providing avenues to marginalised sections.

Food for Thought: A Survey on the Nature of Work Precarity in Platform-Based On-Demand Work

This study aims to empirically understand the precarity of food delivery work at online platforms particularly during the COVID-19-led devastations. Food delivery workers are the new form of the global phenomenon in the labour market. This is a result of access to cheap internet and smartphones among customers, which has enabled the platform to create a new form of labour market. Platform-based food aggregators use the terminology of 'delivery partners’ for these workers which alters the traditional employer-employee relationships, allowing corporations to evade labour-related responsibilities. This makes working conditions at digital platforms highly precarious and is reflected by low income and the non-existence of labour welfare measures. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns have worsened the precarious nature of on-demand work. It has caused a massive loss of livelihoods and erosion of income, showing the importance of traditional employer-employee relationships. These precarious working conditions call for affirmative actions in the form of regulations.

Career identity and organizational identification among professionals with on-demand work

PurposeDrawing upon the social identity theory, the authors argue that professionals' career identities have a positive indirect effect on identification with on-demand organizations through career networking behavior. In addition, the strength of these beneficial effects was also bound by extraversion and collectivism.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesized moderated mediation model was tested by multisource and time-lagged data about 242 Chinese accountants engaging in on-demand work.FindingsThe results demonstrated that professionals with a career identity tend to engage in career networking behaviors and identify themselves with a client company. In addition, extraverted professionals were more likely to engage in career networking behaviors, and collectivist professionals were more likely to identify with their on-demand organizations.Practical implicationsThis research provides important guidelines on how managers in on-demand organizations leverage gig workers' career identities to establish deep relationships with them.Originality/valueThe authors expanded the traditional framework of identification in the setting of nontraditional work arrangements by establishing a link between career identity and organizational identification for on-demand professionals.

Zero-hour contracts and labour law: An antithetical association?

As an introduction to the special issue, this article provides a common definition of the phenomenon studied, i.e. zero-hour contracts, and sets out the research goals pursued through the successive contributions that compose it. Zero-hour contracts are long-term relationships where the employer does not commit to providing a minimum number of working hours to the worker. Legal scholars often state that zero-hour contracts are antithetical to the decommodification of work pursued by labour law. The special issue intends to explore this hypothesis through a legal doctrinal approach to European, international, and national labour law. First, it seeks to refine this hypothesis by examining, through three national case-studies, if (and how) national labour laws were designed to prevent zero-hour contracts and similar on-demand work arrangements. Second, taking the hypothesis seriously, it investigates whether there might be legal arguments in national labour laws and in European and international social law to oppose or to better protect zero-hour workers.

Gigified Knowledge Work: Understanding Knowledge Gaps When Knowledge Work and On-Demand Work Intersect

Online freelance platforms can transform knowledge work. However, 'gigification' also presents challenges, including how freelance workers can access and work with knowledge, which prior research has not examined. Through a qualitative interview study, we identify disparities in how freelancers who work for enterprise companies are able to utilize knowledge as part of their work, when compared with traditional employees of similar organizations. We examine how 38 knowledge workers (21 freelancers, 17 employees) deploy knowledge, work skillfully and mobilize resources to meet knowledge needs. We find that both employees and freelancers understand their own ability to act knowledgeably as a dynamic, collaborative, negotiated and emergent accomplishment. However, for freelancers, the dynamic dimensions of knowledge work - such as helping others see the meaning and value of their work, and creating ties between their work and the enterprise - are only minimally-legitimized and minimally-supported by organizing structures and tools. We present our results as 'knowledge gaps', and propose design recommendations to reduce these gaps and consequently make on-demand knowledge work more effective and sustainable.

A Study on relationship between unemployment and rise of the Gig Economy

Everyone is talking about the “gig economy”, and a growing number of people work in it. The term may seem like something new, but it really isn’t. Before apps brought the idea of on-demand services and gig work to everybody’s phone, the gig economy was often referred to as the freelance economy, agile workforce, or even temporary work. The basic understanding is that people may have a side hustle these days. Or that people have quit their high-powered day jobs for gig economy jobs that pay just as well but with less stress. And, while some people have successfully transitioned from ‘9-to-5ers’ to ‘giggers’, the truth is, the gig economy isn’t just on-demand work. The situation in the last one year has resulted in a great degree of job losses and unemployment across industries and sectors, forcing people to take up ‘gigs’ as a source of income. This is a deviation from the traditional job market which had a greater emphasis on a stable source of income/ job market. Gig economy is anything but stable, owing to its nature, and it is here to stay. With growing importance and growth of the gig economy, along with the growing literature surrounding it, this research paper contributes towards a conceptual understanding of how this is a source of influence in today’s generation of workforce. The study begins by exploring the attributes and mechanism of a gig economy. Further, it aims to establish a relationship between the level of unemployment in the job market and the transition of workforce towards the gig economy. It also delineates avenues for further research regarding the future of gig economy and whether such an economy is sustainable in the long run, and not just a reactionary impact of the pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic and work precarity at digital food platforms: A delivery worker's perspective.

This study tries to establish a conceptual and empirical understanding of the precarity of work in the platform economy using food aggregators as illustrations and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Internet access and smartphone facilitated the creation of platform aggregators, which emerged as a new workspace for young workers in India. However, food aggregators term these workers as 'delivery partners'; this changes the employer-employee relations and allows companies to avoid liabilities and reduce costs. This has led to systematic exploitation and dismal working conditions for food delivery workers. Further, Workers at platforms suffer from low wages (and benefit), absence (or lack) of welfare measures, and discriminatory practices. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown have further aggravated the precarity of on-demand work and workers. Pandemic has shown that with loss of livelihood and income, the notion of autonomy and flexibility at work is meant for the privileged few. This precarious situation of food delivery workers calls for affirmative action in terms of regulations, social security, and protection.

Regulating On-demand Work in China: Just Getting Started?

Abstract In China, a significant and rising number of workers are engaged in on-demand work. The legal status of on-demand workers has been widely debated, and it seems that the vast majority are not protected by labour law, since the law accords rights only to those workers with ‘labour relationships’. While there is widespread consensus in China that on-demand workers need more protection, steps taken in that direction to date have been small indeed. This paper seeks to explain the current legal situation of Chinese on-demand workers by outlining the responses to the spread of on-demand work of the judicial and arbitration system, national government, trade unions and workers themselves. Addressing the question why on-demand workers have not yet been accorded labour protections, it points in particular to the national government’s concern to maintain high levels of employment and ensure economic growth.

플랫폼 노동, 제3의 지위가 해법인가? - 미국의 입법 동향을 중심으로 -

플랫폼 노동, 제3의 지위가 해법인가? - 미국의 입법 동향을 중심으로 -

Risk Shifts in the Gig Economy: The Normative Case for an Insurance Scheme against the Effects of Precarious Work*

Risk Shifts in the Gig Economy: The Normative Case for an Insurance Scheme against the Effects of Precarious Work*

A Gig mHealth Economy Framework: Scoping Review of Internet Publications.

BackgroundThe gig economy (characterized by short-term contracts rather than being a full-time employee in an organization) is one of the most recent and important tendencies that have expanded through the global economic market thanks to advances in internet and communication technologies. Similarly, mobile health (mHealth) technologies have also evolved rapidly with the development of the internet and mobile apps, attracting attention globally for their health care benefits.ObjectiveThis study aimed to propose an integration of mHealth within the framework of the gig economy that leads to a new dimension of health care services and the proposal of a new term: gig mHealth.MethodsA review and systematic search of articles, books, and opinions that allowed for answering the research questions were executed through the internet. In this sense, the concept of the gig economy and examples, advantages and disadvantages, were reviewed. Similarly, the general characteristics of mHealth technologies were revised. In addition, the role of technology in supporting the development of the gig economy and mHealth technologies and the interactions between them were investigated.ResultsThe findings suggested that the gig economy is characterized by its flexibility in working hours, on-demand work, free agents, freelancing, freedom in the choice of work, and independent contracts. In addition, an analysis of an mHealth system indicated that it was composed of patients, specialists, nurses, and database administrators. In this system, patients and specialists or nurses are connected to cloud services for the transmission of data and medical information through a mobile app. Here, the administrators update the database and app features, among other technical tasks. Conversely, a general structure of an integrated gig mHealth system was developed. In this structure, the mHealth care services and the mHealth care activities were incorporated into a gig economy model. In addition, a practical example of an integrated view of a gig economy app in mHealth that illustrates the interaction between the patients (consumers) and providers (partners) of mHealth care services, mHealth care activities, health care professionals, and individual contractors was presented. The consumers and providers were interconnected with the health care company, brand, or firm through digital means using a mobile app or Windows platforms.ConclusionsThe analysis carried out in this study suggested the possibility of integrating mHealth within the framework of the gig economy enhancing health care service delivery and the management of health care activities. The following 4 major areas of apps proposed in the mHealth framework that can catalyze the operations using the features of the gig economy were sharing/renting medical and diagnostic equipment and resources, on-demand appointments/self-health management, on-demand health care services, and assigning health care activities/gigs to individual contractors. This integration leads to a new dimension for health care services and the proposal of a new term: gig mHealth.

Does Driving as a Form of

About 20% of the U.S. unemployed population has been out of the labor force for more than 6 months. The rise of the gig economy has changed the landscape of nontraditional employment opportunities for these predominantly low-skilled long-term unemployed workers. This particular type of on-demand work can be used to fill unemployment gaps and offers little to no training costs and flexible hours. Therefore, we explore whether driving as a form of gig work helps to mitigate the negative effects of long-term unemployment for low-skilled job seekers with employment gaps, and how employers evaluate workers who have held non-traditional jobs. Using a correspondence audit study with 1006 job applications, we evaluated whether a set of resumes "enhanced" with experience driving for a real-time ridesharing service received more callbacks than baseline resumes with an employment gap. We found no evidence that driving as a form of gig work increased the callback rates of applicants. In fact, we observed that in comparison to men, the callback rates for women slightly declined. Our study suggests that driving 'gigs' might not be a substitute for traditional employment on resumes for low-skilled workers. We contribute a call to CSCW to investigate methods that help to understand why real-time ridesharing services do not substitute for traditional jobs in bridging employment gaps and solutions on how to overcome it. Finally, we reflect on our use of audit studies in the new digital era and present potential CSCW and HCI contributions using this method.

Performing on-demand work via effective strategies: Setting goals contingent upon regulatory foci

Integrating two theoretically distinct approaches to motivation that focus on situational and dispositional goals, we investigated the effects of goal setting (single vs. double goals) on performan...

More Than Money: Correlation among Worker Demographics, Motivations, and Participation in Online Labor Market

Most prior research about online labor markets examines the dynamics of a single work platform and either worker demographics or motivations associated with that site. How demographics and motives correlate with each other, and with engagement across multiple platforms, remains understudied. To bridge this gap, we analyze survey responses from 1700 people working across four different online labor platforms to understand: What motivates people to participate in online labor markets and how do individual motives correspond to larger demographic patterns and structural dynamics that more broadly shape traditional employment opportunities? Our results show that age, gender, education, and number of income sources help explain who does ondemand work, when they do it, and why. Even more striking, these broader social dimensions of work correlate with when and why individuals work across multiple on-demand platform companies. Together, these factors structure ondemand labor markets more than individual choice or the presumed “flexibility” of on-demand work alone.

The On-Demand Work (Mis)classification Judgments in Italy. An Overview

After a brief recap of the Italian legal framework in matter of employment subordination, the A. analyzes the three Judgments of the Italian Courts concerning the classification of on-demand work. The A. underlines the complexity of the classification of the new forms of work through the traditional criteria of interpretations, but he also criticizes the initiative of the Italian Legislator, which, passing article 2 Decreto Legislativo No. 81/2015, traced a doubtful boundary between the direction of work (still the essence of employment subordination) and the organization of other’s work (a feature which should lead to the application of employment standards without losing the nature of independent contractor). Ultimately, the A. contends that the burden of finding an adequate response to the social needs of on-demand workers cannot be placed (entirely) upon the Courts, since it is a matter of policy (action) at large. Accordingly, he weights and eventually endorses the regulatory trajectory of conferring upon – certainly vulnerable, regardless of their classification as employees or independent contractors – on-demand workers a bundle of selected protections, through a “ad hoc” statute and/or via collective bargaining.