Crowdwork in the New Collaborative Economy
The ‘new collaborative economy’ remains an ambiguous term to both scholars and the public, with various definitions. Several different terms are also used to describe more or less the same phenomenon, such as “sharing economy” (Frenken & Schor, 2019), “collaborative consumption” (Hamari, Sjöklint, & Ukkonen, 2016), “peer-to-peer economy” (Sundararajan, 2016), or “access economy” (Denning, 2014). However, most terms share a common understanding of an emerging marketplace where consumers rely on each other instead of large companies – giving, swapping, borrowing, trading, and renting both products and services in an online setting. Typically, access is more important than exclusive ownership, which suits Generation Z, assumed to prefer lower‐cost options that offer temporary access to different assets, like, for example, home and car sharing (Denning, 2014; Frenken & Schor, 2019; Hamari et al., 2016). Usually, a “web-based middleman” or online intermediary will ensure that the transaction is performed properly, but without directly controlling the consumer interaction (Frankenfield, 2018; Hamari et al., 2016). In addition, these new economic solutions often aim to serve a broader collective purpose or common good, like the alleviation of societal problems, such as hyper‐consumption, pollution, and poverty (Hamari et al., 2016). “Green values” are especially important, and many online platforms advertise that they contribute to reducing CO2 emissions. Although the environmental effects remain difficult to measure, sharing is expected to reduce the demand for new goods or facilities (Frenken & Schor, 2019).
Crowdwork is increasingly important in this collaborative economy, allowing thousands of people to work on the same project in an online setting. A large group can now perform separate “tasks” on short-term contracts in ways not previously possible. For example, in Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, workers bid to complete microtasks or very small units of work. A growing number of platforms also offer more complex project work that covers a wide range of professions (e.g. Upwork and Thumbtack) (Sundararajan, 2018). In addition, companies and other organizations increasingly seek external expertise when they are unable to solve problems (Chesbrough, 2017).