Guest editorial: A different world of work: the sharing economy and (in)equity, identity and rewards

Abstract

Introduction The world of work has significantly changed in recent years. For a long period of time, the focus has been on more conventional forms, such as full-time factory and office-based forms with their contractual relationships andmanagement. However, there have always beenwork that are labelled as “non-traditional” forms of work. To describe the changing nature of work, a range of terms are increasingly used, often interchangeably, in not only common parlance and the media, but also academia. These include gig, on-demand, freelance, contract or otherwise non-permanent work. The concept of the sharing economy, defined as the sharing of goods and services for commercial and non-commercial purposes via digital platforms without the transfer of ownership (Acquier et al., 2017; Benoit et al., 2017; Klarin and Suseno, 2021), has been considered as an umbrella term of these “non-traditional” forms of work. This covers the sharing of goods and services in areas ranging from accommodation, transportation, travel, durables and consumer goods to professional and personal services. The key element of the sharing economy is a shift from owning goods and resources to sharing them (Belk, 2014; Gerwe and Silva, 2020). The sharing economy has essentially created a new business model that enables individuals to collaboratively utilise “idle” assets and services and facilitates a wide range of exchanges around the world (Eckhardt and Bardhi, 2015). Scholars have drawn attention to how the sharing economy fosters innovations (Weber et al., 2019) and enables peer-to-peer sharing which gives users access to services and “owners” offering those services (Benjaafar et al., 2019). Studies on the sharing economy have also highlighted that the new type of economy lowers transaction costs for users and providers (Lamberton and Rose, 2012; Munger, 2018) and promotes flexible working arrangements (De Stefano, 2015; Sundararajan, 2016). The rapid development and spread of ubiquitous and cheap technologies mean the pervasiveness of non-traditional work has broadened in scope and reach. One early example was “Mechanical Turk”, a website owned and operated by Amazon since its creation in 2005. The name comes from an 18th century chess-playing device where challengers competed against the Turk, believing they were competing against a mechanised, automated machine. However, it was an illusion as in fact challengers competed against a person hidden inside. The platform was intended to exploit the fact that humans can easily perform certain tasks that were difficult for computers by connecting those whowanted research done with those whowere willing to do it. Technology has undoubtedly served as the intermediary, in the form of a platform, acting as a bridge between providers and users (Kumar et al., 2018). This business model was popularised by two Silicon Valley start-ups, Airbnb in 2007 and Uber in 2009, with now a lot more platform providers and participants in the sharing economy. The concept of the sharing economy, which includes gig work, has not only been covered by the media, but it has also permeated popular lexicon and culture, such as films. A good example of this is “Sorry We Missed You” from Ken Loach in 2019. This is a vivid portrayal about family life in the gig economy with a parcel delivery company and care provider. Guest editorial