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Working for an App: Organizational Boundaries, Roles, and Meaning of Work in the “On-demand” Economy

Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations?

ISBN: 978-1-78743-829-3, eISBN: 978-1-78743-828-6

Publication date: 17 October 2018

Abstract

What happens to nonelite workers’ meaning, belonging, and identity when work is “on-demand”? On-demand organizations, such as Uber and TaskRabbit, have ambiguous boundaries and locations of workers. This qualitative study investigated how organizational and societal boundary discourse and the organization of the work itself, constructed sometimes conflicting worker roles that influenced how ride-hailing workers understood the boundaries of the on-demand organization and their location with respect to it. The roles of app–user and driver–partner constructed ride-hailing workers as outside the boundaries of the organization, while the driver–bot role constructed them as (nonhuman) elements of organizational technology. While the driver–partner role had positive and empowering identity, meaning, and belongingness associations, its conflict with the other roles blocked these positive associations, and led to cynicism and fatalism. We reflect on the possible impacts of the on-demand economy on society, workers, and the practice of work, particularly for nonelite workers.

Keywords

Citation

Roberts, A. and Zietsma, C. (2018), "Working for an App: Organizational Boundaries, Roles, and Meaning of Work in the “On-demand” Economy", Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations? (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 57), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 195-225. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20180000057008

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited