Revisiting the Gig Economy: Emergence, Challenges and COVID-19 Implications

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F70883521%3A28120%2F22%3A63548818" target="_blank" >RIV/70883521:28120/22:63548818 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8406-7" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8406-7</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8406-7" target="_blank" >10.1007/978-981-16-8406-7</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Revisiting the Gig Economy: Emergence, Challenges and COVID-19 Implications

Original language description

The gig economy depicts a system that brings together the demanders (hirers) and suppliers (independent workers) of human resources and/or personal services through information technology. It occupies a prominent position in the overarching economic phenomenon known as the sharing economy. It is exemplified by companies like Uber, Airbnb and Task Rabbit which are adopting technology-based business models to link freelancers, contractual or part-time workers to the consumers. There are three parties involved in a basic gig work arrangement, namely: the customer, online platform provider and service provider. The service provider engages in the online platform and prescribe the capacity and intent to provide services to clients. Meanwhile, the customer (user) specifies a service request and selects a “best fit” provider for actual service delivery. The online platforms mainly serve as intermediary facilitating the transaction between the supplier and demander of services. Online platform providers (also called on-demand companies) solely rely on jobs listed on their platform, thus, generate income through commissions from customers and providers using the platform (Donovan et al., 2016). In return, service providers are offered with greater possibilities to secure jobs and work flexibility. Duggan et al. (2020) described “gig work” as an economic work that deviates from the traditional employment as organizations have less control over the workers and employment relationships are non-existent. They also classify gig work as contract work, yet, differs from direct contracting and sub-contracting due to the utilization of technology-based platforms that mediates the relationship between the independent worker and the customer. Likewise, Koutsimpogiorgos et al. (2020) recognized the gig economy on the basis of 1) online intermediation, 2) involvement of independent contractors, 3) the supply of personal services and 4) payment for tasks. Participation in the gig economy is rapidly increasing in both advanced and developing economies. Indeed, it has laid more possibilities for income generation. Nevertheless, its recognition and legitimacy are still being deliberated. As gig workers are considered “contractual workers”, existing employment protection laws and regulations may not be fully enforceable resulting to an increase in workers’ vulnerability. More implications are also expected in the times of crisis as gig workers eligibility for employment assistance from the state remains blur (Chen et al., 2020). The occurrence of Covid-19 pandemic significantly reduced the number of available jobs in the gig economy. However, the utility of on-demand delivery services has become apparent as pandemic-related restrictions are enforced. Recent evidence suggests that new gig jobs are opening alongside with the incidence of the health crisis, thus inciting the need for support from policy makers in the post-crisis (Umar et al., 2020). In view of the ongoing discourse of the gig economy, this chapter reviews the concepts’ emergence, platform control strategies and the critical issues needed of resolution especially in the post-pandemic recovery period.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50204 - Business and management

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

Sustainability in the Gig Economy: Perspectives, Challenges and Opportunities in Industry 4.0

ISBN

978-981-16-8406-7

Number of pages of the result

12

Pages from-to

325-336

Number of pages of the book

336

Publisher name

Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Place of publication

Singapore

UT code for WoS chapter

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