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Hybrid (Solo)Self-Employment and Upskilling: Is Online Platform Work a Path Towards Entrepreneurship?

Author

Listed:
  • Pouliakas, Konstantinos

    (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop))

  • Ranieri, Antonio

    (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop))

Abstract

The increasing use of online labour platforms as intermediaries for finding work – known as crowdwork or gig work – is a new form of 'hybrid' (solo)self-employment that hinges on the borders of dependent and self-employment. In this study we use a novel international dataset of online platform workers, the Cedefop Crowdlearn dataset, to analyse if engagement in hybrid digital self-employment could augment individuals' skills and hence potentially act as a stepping stone towards fuller entrepreneurship. We also examine if a digital proto-entrepreneurial experience is sustainable over time by analysing crowdworkers' satisfaction from their work. The paper's findings provide some support to the hypothesis that hybrid work experiences, especially when platform work is carried out alongside another dependent job, can facilitate additional and varied skill development done via one's secondary platform activity and potentially spur fuller entrepreneurial commitment. However, such skill formation dividends are deficient for part-time hybrids who are mostly driven towards solo self-employment out of necessity, making their journey from proto- to full entrepreneurship less feasible. Our paper provides additional evidence to the marked diversity and hybridity of different forms of (solo)self-employment in modern labour markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Ranieri, Antonio, 2022. "Hybrid (Solo)Self-Employment and Upskilling: Is Online Platform Work a Path Towards Entrepreneurship?," IZA Discussion Papers 15344, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15344
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kässi, Otto & Lehdonvirta, Vili, 2018. "Do Digital Skill Certificates Help New Workers Enter the Market? Evidence from an Online Labour Platform," SocArXiv 7tybd, Center for Open Science.
    2. Sundararajan, Arun, 2016. "The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262034573, December.
    3. Kameliia Petrova, 2012. "Part-time entrepreneurship and financial constraints: evidence from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 473-493, September.
    4. Colin C. Williams & Ioana Alexandra Horodnic, 2018. "Evaluating the prevalence and distribution of dependent self†employment: some lessons from the European Working Conditions Survey," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 109-127, March.
    5. Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 2019. "The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995–2015," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(2), pages 382-416, March.
    6. Konstantinos Pouliakas & Wieteke S. Conen, 2023. "Multiple job-holding: Career pathway or dire straits?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 3562-3562, December.
    7. Conen, Wieteke & Schippers, Johannes Jan & Schulze Buschoff, Karin, 2016. "Self-employed without personnel between freedom and insecurity," WSI Studies 05, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    hybrid self-employment; platform/gig economy; crowdworkers; skills; learning; entrepreneurship; digitalisation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • J49 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Other

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