IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v34y2020i3p476-494.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘If He Just Knew Who We Were’: Microworkers’ Emerging Bonds of Attachment in a Fragmented Employment Relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Niki Panteli

    (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)

  • Andriana Rapti

    (University of Nicosia, Cyprus)

  • Dora Scholarios

    (University of Strathclyde, UK)

Abstract

Using the lens of attachment, we explore microworkers’ views of their employment relationship. Microwork comprises short-term, task-focused exchanges with large numbers of end-users (requesters), implying transitory and transactional relationships. Other key parties, however, include the platform which digitally meditates worker–requester relationships and the online microworker community. We explore the nature of attachment with these parties and the implications for microworkers’ employment experiences. Using data from a workers’ campaign directed at Amazon Mechanical Turk and CEO Jeff Bezos, we demonstrate multiple, dynamic bonds – primarily acquiescence and instrumental bonds – towards requesters and the platform, and identification with the online community. Microworkers also expressed dedication towards the platform. We consider how attachment buffers the exploitative employment relationship and how community bonds mobilise collective worker voice.

Suggested Citation

  • Niki Panteli & Andriana Rapti & Dora Scholarios, 2020. "‘If He Just Knew Who We Were’: Microworkers’ Emerging Bonds of Attachment in a Fragmented Employment Relationship," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 476-494, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:3:p:476-494
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017019897872
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017019897872
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0950017019897872?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bailey, Katherine & Madden, Adrian & Alfes, Kerstin & Shantz, Amanda & Soane, Emma, 2017. "The mismanaged soul: existential labor and the erosion of meaningful work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68342, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Lehdonvirta, Vili, 2018. "Flexibility in the Gig Economy: Managing Time on Three Online Piecework Platforms," SocArXiv k3hy4, Center for Open Science.
    3. Schmidt, Gordon B. & Jettinghoff, William M., 2016. "Using Amazon Mechanical Turk and other compensated crowdsourcing sites," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 391-400.
    4. Christian Fieseler & Eliane Bucher & Christian Pieter Hoffmann, 2019. "Unfairness by Design? The Perceived Fairness of Digital Labor on Crowdworking Platforms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 987-1005, June.
    5. Yvonne Gerarda Theodora van Rossenberg & Howard J. Klein & K. Asplund & Kathleen Bentein & Heiko Breitsohl & Aaron Cohen & David Cross & Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues & Véronique Duflot & Steven Ki, 2018. "The future of workplace commitment; key questions and directions," Post-Print hal-02180702, HAL.
    6. Coyle-Shapiro, Jacqueline & Morrow, Paula & Kessler, Ian, 2006. "Serving two organizations : exploring the employment relationship of contracted employees," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2665, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Johnston, Hannah & Land-Kazlauskas, Chris., 2018. "Organizing on-demand representation, voice, and collective bargaining in the gig economy," ILO Working Papers 994981993502676, International Labour Organization.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aruna Ranganathan, 2023. "When the Tasks Line Up: How the Nature of Supplementary Tasks Affects Worker Productivity," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(3), pages 556-585, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marie Nilsen & Trond Kongsvik & Stian Antonsen, 2022. "Taming Proteus: Challenges for Risk Regulation of Powerful Digital Labor Platforms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Orhan, Mehmet A. & Khelladi, Insaf & Castellano, Sylvaine & Singh, Sanjay Kumar, 2022. "Work experience on algorithm-based platforms: The bright and dark sides of turking," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. Kevin Hu & Feng Fu, 2021. "Evolutionary Dynamics of Gig Economy Labor Strategies under Technology, Policy and Market Influence," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-31, June.
    4. Herr, Benjamin & Schörpf, Philip & Flecker, Jörg, 2021. "Virtuelle Kommunikationsräume als Ausgangspunkt für Interessenartikulation in der Onlineplattformarbeit [Virtual communication rooms as a launching area for the articulation of interests in remot," Industrielle Beziehungen. Zeitschrift für Arbeit, Organisation und Management, Verlag Barbara Budrich, vol. 28(2), pages 172-193.
    5. Gibbs, Jennifer L. & Eisenberg, Julia & Fang, Chengyu & Wilkenfeld, J. Nan, 2023. "Examining how organizational continuities and discontinuities affect the job satisfaction of global contractors," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).
    6. Alex Veen & Tom Barratt & Caleb Goods, 2020. "Platform-Capital’s ‘App-etite’ for Control: A Labour Process Analysis of Food-Delivery Work in Australia," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 388-406, June.
    7. Gilles Paché, 2020. "Inside Delivery Platforms: The Covid-19 Pandemic And After," Post-Print hal-03041080, HAL.
    8. Jens Jørund Tyssedal, 2023. "Work is Meaningful if There are Good Reasons to do it: A Revisionary Conceptual Analysis of ‘Meaningful Work’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 533-544, July.
    9. Alex J. Wood, 2021. "Algorithmic Management: Consequences for Work Organisation and Working Conditions," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-07, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Michael Pirson, 2019. "A Humanistic Perspective for Management Theory: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 39-57, September.
    11. Behl, Abhishek & Jayawardena, Nirma & Ishizaka, Alessio & Gupta, Manish & Shankar, Amit, 2022. "Gamification and gigification: A multidimensional theoretical approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1378-1393.
    12. Efrat Dressler & Yevgeny Mugerman, 2023. "Doing the Right Thing? The Voting Power Effect and Institutional Shareholder Voting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(4), pages 1089-1112, April.
    13. Yao, Qiongrui (Missy) & Baker, LaKami T. & Lohrke, Franz T., 2022. "Building and sustaining trust in remote work by platform-dependent entrepreneurs on digital labor platforms: Toward an integrative framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 327-339.
    14. Stephany, Fabian, 2021. "When Does it Pay Off to Learn a New Skill? Revealing the Complementary Benefit of Cross-Skilling," SocArXiv sv9de, Center for Open Science.
    15. Gernot Grabher & Erwin van Tuijl, 2020. "Uber-production: From global networks to digital platforms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(5), pages 1005-1016, August.
    16. Mai Chi Vu & Roger Gill, 2023. "Are Leaders Responsible for Meaningful Work? Perspectives from Buddhist-Enacted Leaders and Buddhist Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 347-370, October.
    17. Ciotti, Fabrizio & Hornuf, Lars & Stenzhorn, Eliza, 2021. "Lock-In Effects in Online Labor Markets," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2021014, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    18. Yáñez-Valdés, Claudia & Guerrero, Maribel & Barros-Celume, Sebastián & Ibáñez, María J., 2023. "Winds of change due to global lockdowns: Refreshing digital social entrepreneurship research paradigm," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    19. Piazza, Mariangela & Mazzola, Erica & Perrone, Giovanni, 2022. "How can I signal my quality to emerge from the crowd? A study in the crowdsourcing context," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    20. Hafiz Muhammad Farrukh Tahir & Sohaib Uz Zaman, 2021. "Freelancers Perception towards Remittance Policies and its Consequences on the Economy of Pakistan," International Journal of Publication and Social Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(1), pages 18-33, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:3:p:476-494. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.