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On the critical role of freelancers in agile economies

Author

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  • Andrew Burke

    (Trinity College)

  • Marc Cowling

    (University of Derby)

Abstract

The most dynamic economies in the world are characterised by an entrepreneurial, innovation-driven business sector. And this requires firms to unburden themselves from bureaucratic constraints and become more agile and flexible. A key, and hitherto ignored, agent in this transformative process is the freelancer. Historically considered as displaced and disenfranchised workers, we argue that many freelancers are in fact highly skilled professionals who choose this form of work organisation. Further, their role in providing specialist expertise and knowledge to the firms they engage with is critical and mutually beneficial as it allows firms to adopt more flexible and agile business models capable of responding to a dynamic and rapidly changing business environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Burke & Marc Cowling, 2020. "On the critical role of freelancers in agile economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 393-398, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:55:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-019-00240-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00240-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Milena Nikolova & Boris Nikolaev & Christopher Boudreaux, 2023. "Being your own boss and bossing others: the moderating effect of managing others on work meaning and autonomy for the self-employed and employees," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 463-483, February.
    2. Robert Blackburn & Stephen Machin & Maria Ventura, 2023. "The self-employment trap?," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-030, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Varun Gupta & Jose Maria Fernandez-Crehuet & Chetna Gupta & Thomas Hanne, 2020. "Freelancing Models for Fostering Innovation and Problem Solving in Software Startups: An Empirical Comparative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Ivona Huđek & Polona Tominc & Karin Širec, 2021. "The Impact of Social and Cultural Norms, Government Programs and Digitalization as Entrepreneurial Environment Factors on Job and Career Satisfaction of Freelancers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Varun Gupta & Jose Maria Fernandez-Crehuet & Thomas Hanne, 2020. "Fostering Continuous Value Proposition Innovation through Freelancer Involvement in Software Startups: Insights from Multiple Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-35, October.

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