Prevalent themes in literature centring the perspectives of freelancers

Prevalent themes in literature centring the perspectives of freelancers

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As the demand for online freelance labour is on the rise, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of the implications for freelancers. This article contributes to this understanding by synthesizing the empirical, academic literature centering the narratives of freelancers working through online freelance platforms. In doing so, it aims to a...

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Context 1
... codes emerged from the articles. We sought for commonalities and differences between them, which resulted in the categorisation of first-order terms, such as 'autonomy and flexibility' (see Figure 2). With these terms, we aimed to retain the terms used in the articles. ...
Context 2
... were subsequently distilled into four aggregate themes that are discussed most prevalently in the literature focusing on the perspectives of freelancers of their work: (1) employment opportunities and motivating factors; (2) challenges; (3) freelancer agency; and (4) livelihood outcomes. Figure 2 visualizes the data structure and illustrates how the aggregate themes are related. Particularly, it depicts how the synthesis of the articles suggests that the first three themes result in a diverging set of freelancers' livelihood outcomes, as depicted on a continuum ranging from unsuccessful to successful. ...
Context 3
... engaging with the four themes, we review the descriptive data of the 42 identified studies based on their relevance to these themes, year of publication, research context, and methodological approach. Regarding the former, Figure 3 is complementary to Figure 2 and illustrates the varying levels of research attention paid to each theme. The challenges and agency of freelancers are most commonly studied and substantial attention is paid to the employment opportunities provided by online freelance platforms and freelancers' motivations for engaging with these opportunities. ...
Context 4
... freelance platforms provide workers with employment opportunities beyond the geographical boundaries of their local labour market, filling an 'institutional void' by connecting freelancers to clients all around the globe, generating mutual trust (for example, by reputation systems), and creating a sense of security (for example, by escrow and dispute resolution services) (D'Cruz and Noronha, 2016;2018a;Abubaker and Schneikat, 2017;Graham et al, 2017;Du and Mao, 2018;Bellesia et al, 2019;Taylor and Joshi, 2019;Lehdonvirta et al, 2019;Jarrahi et al, 2020;Soriano and Cabañes, 2020;Malik et al, 2021;Demirel et al, 2021;Seppänen et al, 2021;Rahman, 2021). The review finds that freelancers are motivated to seek these employment opportunities broadly for four reasons: flexibility and autonomy, monetary incentives, lack of (suitable) employment in the local labour market, and skill and career development (see Figure 2). ...
Context 5
... review finds some commonalities in these challenges which arise from two sources: those inherent to online freelance labour and from power asymmetry. It also finds that freelancers experience challenges specific to their personal characteristics and socioeconomic context (see Figure 2). ...
Context 6
... third form of power asymmetry manifests itself between freelancers and is also enabled by platformic management (Jarrahi et al, 2020; Rahman, 2021). On the one hand, reputation systems create a catch-22 for new freelancers: they need feedback ratings in order to secure their first job, yet a job is required to generate feedback ratings. ...
Context 7
... review finds that freelancers mostly preserve their self-interest through individual action that is compliant with or aims to circumvent or subvert the systemic structures of online freelance labour and platformic management. In contrast, collective action is rare (see Figure 2). ...
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... strategy is to build a larger 'ecosystem of external digital platforms' (Kinder et al, 2019: 1). Even though online freelance platforms are designed as self-contained, comprehensive spaces that are to be used in isolation from other (competing) platforms, freelancers create accounts on multiple online freelance platforms and use communication (for example, Skype and email) and file-sharing systems that are not supported by the platforms through which they work (Jarrahi et al, 2020). ...
Context 9
... employment opportunities provided by online freelance platforms and freelancers' challenges and agency together determine their livelihood outcomes, that is, their 'capabilities, assets… and activities required for a means of living' (Chambers and Conway, 1992: 6). Following the literature, these outcomes may strongly diverge and can be portrayed on a continuum from unsuccessful to successful (see Figure 2). On the one hand, studies provide examples of freelancers who do not manage to break through the barriers of platform reputation and algorithmic recommendation and, hence, experience precarity and suffer financial, social, and psychological harm, albeit to different degrees ( Beerepoot and Lambregts, 2015;Graham et al, 2017;Wood et al, 2019a;Anwar and Graham, 2020;Sutherland et al, 2020;Demirel et al, 2021;Dunn et al, 2021;Malik et al, 2021). ...
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... there is a limited understanding of why some freelancers manage to become successful and others do not. Second, there is a lack of knowledge on the distribution of gains or how freelancers are distributed across the livelihood outcomes continuum (see Figure 2). Third, research on the extent to which freelancers are able to move along this continuum is limited. ...

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This first issue of Work in the Global Economy for 2025 represents a passing of the editorial baton for the journal, as this is the last issue to be prepared by the first team of editors-in-chief, Sian Moore and Kirsty Newsome. As the new team, Giorgos Gouzoulis, Jean Jenkins and Martin Krzywdzinski, we would like to thank Kirsty and Sian for their work in setting up the journal and steering it through the first three years of its life in such excellent fashion. One important result of their development work is the journal’s inclusion and ranking in the Chartered Association of Business Schools’ Academic Journal Guide 2024. We are looking forward to taking responsibility for a journal that has undergone such impressive development since its inception.