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A Relational Work Perspective on the Gig Economy: Doing Creative Work on Digital Labour Platforms

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Alacovska

    (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark)

  • Eliane Bucher

    (BI Norwegian Business School, Norway)

  • Christian Fieseler

    (BI Norwegian Business School, Norway)

Abstract

Based on interviews with 49 visual artists, graphic designers and illustrators working on two leading global digital labour platforms, this article examines how creative workers perform relational work as a means of attenuating labour commodification, precarity, and algorithmic normativity. The article argues that creative work on online labour platforms, rather than being entirely controlled by depersonalised, anonymised and algorithm-driven labour market forces, is also infused in relational infrastructures whose upkeep, solidity and durability depends on the emotional efforts undertaken by workers to match economic transactions and their media of exchange to meaningful client relations. By applying a relational work perspective from economic sociology to the study of platform-mediated gig work, the article elucidates the micro-foundations of creative work in the digital gig economy, including how labour inequalities are produced and reproduced within and around micro-level interpersonal interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Alacovska & Eliane Bucher & Christian Fieseler, 2024. "A Relational Work Perspective on the Gig Economy: Doing Creative Work on Digital Labour Platforms," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(1), pages 161-179, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:38:y:2024:i:1:p:161-179
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170221103146
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christina Purcell & Paul Brook, 2022. "At Least I’m My Own Boss! Explaining Consent, Coercion and Resistance in Platform Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(3), pages 391-406, June.
    2. Will Sutherland & Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi & Michael Dunn & Sarah Beth Nelson, 2020. "Work Precarity and Gig Literacies in Online Freelancing," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 457-475, June.
    3. Jennifer Haylett, 2012. "One Woman Helping Another," Politics & Society, , vol. 40(2), pages 223-247, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ward van Zoonen & Anu E Sivunen, 2026. "Autonomy’s Mirage: How Fauxtonomy Fuels Workers’ Frustration in the Gig Economy," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 40(2), pages 314-336, April.
    2. Yuanyuan Li & Zuomiao Xie & Zhangjing Tui & Donghyup Woo, 2025. "The Impact of Digital Economy on Flexible Employment: The Mediating Role of Laborer Perceptions," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(1), pages 21582440251, March.

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