Prelims

Half Title Page

Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy

Series Page

The Changing Context of Managing People

Edited by Professor Emma Parry, Cranfield School of Management, Swindon, UK

The past two decades have represented a time of unprecedented social, technological and economic change that has required a transformation in human resource management (HRM). Shifts in demographics, continued increases of women in the workforce and greater mobility across national borders have led to higher diversity in the workplace. Advances in technology, including social media, have enabled new ways of doing business through faster communications and vast amounts of data made available to all. Mobile technology with its ubiquitous connectivity has led to renewed concerns over work–life balance and extreme jobs. These and many other changes have seen evolving attitudes towards work and careers, leading to different expectations of the workplace and mean that existing ways of managing people may no longer be effective. This series examines in depth the changing context to identify its impact on the HRM and the workforce.

Titles include:

Generations Z in Europe: Inputs, Insights and Implications

Christian Scholz and Anne Rennig

Managing Technology and Middle- and Low-skilled Employees: Advances for Economic Regeneration

Claretha Hughes, Lionel Robert, Kristin K. Frady and Adam Arroyos

Advances in the Technology of Managing People: Contemporary Issues in Business

Pamela A. Gordon and Julie A. Overbey

Managing the Ageing Workforce in the East and the West

Matt Flynn, Yuxin Li and Anthony Chiva

Electronic HRM in the Smart Era

Tanya Bondarouk, Huub Ruël and Emma Parry

Work in the 21st Century: How Do I Log On?

Peter K. Ross, Susan Ressia, Elizabeth J. Sander and Emma Parry

Social Recruitment in HRM: A Theoretical Approach and Empirical Analysis

Ginevra Gravili and Monica Fait

Title Page

Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy: An Interdisciplinary Analysis

EDITED BY

REBECCA PAGE-TICKELL

University of East London, UK

ELAINE YERBY

London School of Economics, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83867-604-9 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-603-2 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-605-6 (Epub)

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

List of Contributors

Foreword

In recent years, we have seen increased attention in the “gig” economy – broadly, the trend towards using freelance contractors on a short-term basis to undertake specific pieces of work or “gigs”. The use of such contractors in itself is nothing new; however, interest in its use has increased due to the development of mobile platforms that connect contractors with possible clients and their dominance in areas such as takeaway delivery (e.g. Just Eat and Deliveroo) and taxi transportation (e.g. Uber and Lyft). The growth of the gig economy has led to questions in relation to the impact of this trend on workers and on people management. In particular, a debate has arisen about the tension between the freedom that gig works allows workers (and of course employers) and the precariousness and uncertainty that they experience. Despite the important implications of the gig economy, we have so far lacked a detailed academic analysis of its impacts at different levels and discussion of how this increasing trend could be managed by organisations. In my opinion, there is a general lack of understanding about the gig economy and its implications; therefore, research and analysis in this area is much needed.

I was therefore delighted to include this text Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy: An Interdisciplinary Analysis in my book series about the The Changing Context of Managing People. Rebecca Page-Tickell and Elaine Yerby have provided a fascinating interdisciplinary analysis of the influence of the gig economy through the perspective of conflict and boundaries and have examined implications of this trend at the macro, meso and micro level. I am convinced that this book will be invaluable to both academic researchers and practitioners who are responsible for managing people on gig contracts. I would also like to see this as a call to other researchers to help to develop the evidence base in this increasingly important area.

Emma Parry

Series Editor

The Changing Context of Managing People