Co-creation in Macrotask Knowledge Work on Online Labor Platforms

Seppänen, Laura; Spinuzzi, Clay; Poutanen, Seppo; Alasoini, Tuomo

doi:10.18291/njwls.123166

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…These OLPs do not have control over the work itself, with a couple of exceptions, in which they collect data on work performances and working hours for payment arrangements. This data and earlier studies also reveal that some of these OLPs can offer clients tools to supervise work performances, for example, by having timers for working and systems that take intermittent screenshots from workers' computers (Seppänen et al, 2021). Most commonly, these OLPs manage only mediation with varying activities, such as managing communications between parties, or by having restrictive rules for collaborations, such as limitations on canceling gigs.…”

Section: Managed Marketplacesmentioning

confidence: 52%

HRM models of online labor platforms: Strategies of market and corporate logics

Immonen

2023

Front. Sociol.

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Studies on online labor platforms (OLPs) have revealed that OLPs can have extensive managerial control over independent workers, which affects their autonomy and precariousness. The permeability of the management makes some OLPs' roles as neutral intermediaries in labor exchanges questionable. While there are several platform work studies on the effects of human resource management (HRM) activities, earlier studies have focused more on certain types of OLP companies. Earlier OLP classifications did not make systematic distinctions between HRM activities either. This paper offers a classification to view how HRM activities manifest in OLPs. The study utilizes terms of service and webpage data from 46 multinational and Finland-based OLPs. Based on these data, OLPs have been classified into six models with five governance principles and institutional logic. The study uses the idea of institutional complexity and claims that OLPs balance their operations between the complexity of two institutional logics, market, and corporation, by using varying strategies with their HRM activities. Differently managed OLPs are also often marketed to different worker groups. This indicates that workers' levels and quality of autonomy differ between OLPs. Hence, could be expected that platform workers' expectations toward OLPs, perceptions of fairness, and experiences of wellbeing may be influenced by the HRM activities in which they engage. The results contribute to the ongoing discussions of power asymmetries between OLPs and platform workers, and thus OLPs' roles as either marketplaces or hierarchical corporations. Formed models can be utilized to enrich studies on key issues of platform workers' autonomy, precariousness, and experiences in different types of OLPs.

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Section: Managed Marketplacesmentioning

confidence: 52%

HRM models of online labor platforms: Strategies of market and corporate logics

Immonen

2023

Front. Sociol.

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“…In addition to activity theory, our understanding of co-creation has been influenced by its conceptualization in Finnish R&D of working life. We emphasize open-ended, emergent objects, collaborative interaction and the proactiveness of actors as features of co-creation (Table 2; Seppänen et al , 2021). Professionals and developers need to pay attention to the extent to which objects are shared: if the assumed existence of a shared object is false, co-creation may fail (Singh, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interplay of coordination, co-creation and community building: examining interprofessional collaboration in workplace development efforts in health care

Seppänen

Koskela

Heikkilä

et al. 2022

JWL

Self Cite

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Purpose Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is increasingly important in work and workplace learning. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of IPC that are relevant for learning and developing at work. Design/methodology/approach We examine IPC in the discussion data of health care professionals when designing, implementing and evaluating developmental tasks. Qualitative content analysis is carried out on temporally sequential task trajectories, considering IPC from the perspective of the objects and goals of IPC task activity in developmental efforts. Findings The developmentally relevant characteristics of IPC are crystallized in the concepts of coordination, co-creation and community building, which play different, interdependent roles in development efforts. We show their interplay and how they complement each other in practice. Research limitations/implications Our findings regarding IPC characteristics are to be interpreted as working hypotheses and resources for further research. Practical implications Understanding the dynamics of IPC is useful for renewing work practices. Attention to the interplay and complementarity of IPC characteristics may help in the design and implementation of effective and sustained development efforts. Originality/value The dynamics of IPC in developmental settings have not been sufficiently studied. This paper proposes three developmentally relevant and intertwined characteristics of IPC for scholars of workplace learning.

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“…Scholars have developed different classifications of labor platforms as well as different images to describe and analyze platform work (Vallas and Schor, 2020 ). However, much of the research on platform workers has focused on individuals involved in low-skilled tasks, such as food couriers, ride-hail drivers, or micro-taskers, as showcases of precarious “digital labor.” At the same time, those doing more demanding knowledge work via online freelancing platforms have been the subject of less sociological studies (however, see Schörpf et al, 2017 ; Nemkova et al, 2019 ; Sutherland et al, 2020 ; Rahman, 2021 ; Seppänen et al, 2021 ; Wood and Lehdonvirta, 2022 ). A recent study in Denmark found out that, of all platform workers in the country, about one third were “established workers” many of whom were able to combine platform work with high-skilled and well-paid jobs in the conventional labor market (Kristiansen et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Theoretical Foundations Research Question and Research Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Platform workers and digital agency: Making out on three types of labor platforms

et al. 2023

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Much of the research on platform workers has focused on individuals involved in low-skilled and highly standardized tasks. However, platform workers are not a homogeneous group. Utilizing a classification system that makes a distinction between different layers of platform control and grouping platforms according to how they divide decision rights between platforms and workers, we examine how and for what purposes platform workers operating in three types of control contexts have practiced and developed their digital agency for making out. The study, based on an analysis of platform webpages and 32 semi-structured interviews of food couriers, freelancers, and interim managers, shows that workers can exercise their digital agency on all three types of platforms, but different platforms create different conditions for this depending on their special forms of control. In addition, the forms of control also affect to what extent workers are motivated to direct their agency for making out. Instead of regarding platform work as just another layer of a periphery segment in the labor market, our analysis suggests that platforms exercising algorithmic control are new types of arenas for work, which seem to reproduce, or even amplify, the inequalities found in the offline world of work in the digital world.

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Co-creation in Macrotask Knowledge Work on Online Labor Platforms

Cited by 8 publications

References 35 publications

HRM models of online labor platforms: Strategies of market and corporate logics

HRM models of online labor platforms: Strategies of market and corporate logics

Interplay of coordination, co-creation and community building: examining interprofessional collaboration in workplace development efforts in health care

Platform workers and digital agency: Making out on three types of labor platforms

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