Gig-workers’ motivation: thinking beyond carrots and sticks
Purpose: High-quality employee motivation can contribute to an organization’s long-term success by supporting employees’ well-being and performance. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research concerning how organizations motivate workers in non-traditional work contexts. In the algocratic context of the gig-economy, the purpose of this paper is to understand the role that technology can play in motivating workers. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the self-determination theory, job-characteristic theory and enterprise social media research, this conceptual paper explores how the architecture of the digital labor platforms underlying the gig-economy (and the characteristics of jobs mediated through these IT artifacts) can impact key antecedents of self-motivation. Findings: Combining theory and empirical evidence, this paper develops a mid-range theory demonstrating how organizations can support the self-motivation of gig-workers through the thoughtful design of their digital labor platforms and the integration of two social media tools (namely, social networking and social badging). Research limitations/implications: This paper answers calls for psychologically-based research exploring the consequences of gig-work as well as research studying the impacts of advanced technologies in interaction with work contexts on motivation. In theorizing around a large set of social-contextual variables operating at different levels of analysis, this paper demonstrates that individual-level motivation can be influenced by both task-based and organizational-level factors, in addition to individual-level factors. Originality/value: The proposed theory provides novel insight into how gig-organizations can leverage widely accessible social media technology to motivate platform workers in the absence of human supervision and support. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Year of publication: |
2019
|
---|---|
Authors: | Jabagi, Nura ; Croteau, Anne-Marie ; Audebrand, Luc K. ; Marsan, Josianne |
Published in: |
Journal of Managerial Psychology. - Emerald, ISSN 0268-3946, ZDB-ID 2020283-0. - Vol. 34.2019, 4 (13.05.), p. 192-213
|
Publisher: |
Emerald |
Saved in:
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