Knowledge @ Wharton's How Workers Create Meaning in the Gig Economy covers an academic paper written by Wharton School professor Lynsey Cameron.
Her paper, Making Out While Driving: Relational and Efficiency Games in the Gig Economy, was recently published in Organization Science.
It covers her multi-year research project interviewing and studying gig workers, focusing on rideshare drivers.
As part of this study, Cameron herself became a part-time Uber driver.
One of her discoveries was that her view of working as a rideshare driver before her study did not match her interviews. Key quote from the article:
"There's a cultural narrative that the gig economy is so terrible and so exploitive," Cameron said. "I honestly came into the research thinking that was true, but that's not what many of the drivers told me. They really liked it."
Cameron's research showed that many rideshare drivers used two mental models, which Cameron calls "games," to keep themselves engaged with their gig work. These are:
- The relational game — Drivers strive to provide excellent customer service to get great reviews. They see this as being professional and doing a good job, and they win by getting positive ratings.
- The efficiency game — Drivers complete work quickly at the highest pay rate and manage passengers by minimizing personal contact. They win by improving their earnings.
Cameron points out that not all drivers play these games, some play other games, and many switch back and forth between them.
The broader point of her paper is that gig workers use various mental approaches to find meaning in their work.
They do this because many traditional sources of job feedback and meaning, such as feedback from coworkers and bosses, don't exist with gig work.
And at least for some gig workers, this approach works. Key quote from the paper's abstract:
"My findings embed meaning-making in what is fast-becoming the normal workplace, largely solitary and structured by emerging technologies, and holds insights for explaining why people remain engaged in a line of work typically deemed exploitative."
Before reading this insightful paper, we hadn't thought much about the connection between meaning-making and gig work.
But upon reflecting on it, we realized our research also shows that meaning-making is an important tool, and one used by many gig workers - including ourselves.
This is an interesting topic that we will explore this year in our research.
