Do workers discriminate against their out-group employers? Evidence from an online labor market

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sher Afghan Asad
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Online Labor

scholarly journals Designing Informative Rating Systems: Evidence from an Online Labor Market

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhil Garg ◽  
Ramesh Johari
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Online Labor

Problem definition: Platforms critically rely on rating systems to learn the quality of market participants. In practice, however, ratings are often highly inflated and therefore, not very informative. In this paper, we first investigate whether the platform can obtain less inflated, more informative ratings by altering the meaning and relative importance of the levels in the rating system. Second, we seek a principled approach for the platform to make these choices in the design of the rating system. Academic/practical relevance: Platforms critically rely on rating systems to learn the quality of market participants, and so, ensuring these ratings are informative is of first-order importance. Methodology: We analyze the results of a randomized, controlled trial on an online labor market in which an additional question was added to the feedback form. Between treatment conditions, we vary the question phrasing and answer choices; in particular, the treatment conditions include several positive-skewed verbal rating scales with descriptive phrases or adjectives providing specific interpretation for each rating level. We then develop a model-based framework to compare and select among rating system designs and apply this framework to the data obtained from the online labor market test. Results: Our test reveals that current inflationary norms can be countered by reanchoring the meaning of the levels of the rating system. In particular, positive-skewed verbal rating scales yield substantially deflated rating distributions that are much more informative about seller quality. Further, we demonstrate that our model-based framework for scale design and optimization can identify the most informative rating system and substantially improve the quality of information obtained over baseline designs. Managerial implications: Our study illustrates that practical, informative rating systems can be designed and demonstrates how to compare and design them in a principled manner.

scholarly journals Do High-Wage Jobs Attract More Applicants? Directed Search Evidence from the Online Labor Market

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 715-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Banfi ◽  
Benjamín Villena-Roldán
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Directed Search ◽  
High Wage ◽  
Online Labor

scholarly journals The persistence of pay inequality: The gender pay gap in an anonymous online labor market

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. e0229383
Author(s):  
Leib Litman ◽  
Jonathan Robinson ◽  
Zohn Rosen ◽  
Cheskie Rosenzweig ◽  
Joshua Waxman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Gender Pay Gap ◽  
Pay Gap ◽  
Pay Inequality ◽  
Online Labor

scholarly journals Co-creation in Macrotask Knowledge Work on Online Labor Platforms

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Seppänen ◽  
Clay Spinuzzi ◽  
Seppo Poutanen ◽  
Tuomo Alasoini
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Market Model ◽  
Social Form ◽  
Online Labor

Nordic working life studies have mostly focused on the precarious aspects of work mediated via online labor platforms. We follow a different approach and examine the potential of such work to benefit professionals by enhancing their job quality and learning. This qualitative, practice-based study applies the concept ‘co-creation’ to examine how a social form of creating value takes place in Upwork macrotask projects. It then investigates how platform features shape opportunities for co-creation. The data comprise interviews of 15 freelancers residing in Finland. The findings suggest that co-creation is possible in macrotask projects, but the platform does not seem to actively support co-creation. This paper provides insights into the discussion of job quality at platform work and how co-creation on platforms might be developed to support the Nordic labor market model.

scholarly journals The persistence of pay inequality: The gender pay gap in an anonymous online labor market

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leib Litman ◽  
Jonathan Robinson ◽  
Zohn Rosen ◽  
Cheskie Rosenzweig ◽  
Josh Waxman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Gender Pay Gap ◽  
Pay Gap ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Online Labor Markets ◽  
Experience Education ◽  
Online Labor

Studies of the gender pay gap are seldom able to simultaneously account for the range of alternative putative mechanisms underlying it. Using CloudResearch, an online microtask platform connecting employers to workers who perform research-related tasks, we examine whether gender pay discrepancies are still evident in a labor market characterized by anonymity, relatively homogeneous work, and flexibility. For 22,271 Mechanical Turk workers who participated in nearly 5 million tasks we analyze hourly wages by gender, controlling for key covariates which have been shown previously to lead to differential pay for men and women. On average, women’s hourly earnings were 10.5% lower than men’s. Several factors contributed to the gender wage gap, including the tendency for women to select tasks that have lower advertised hourly pay. This study provides evidence that gender pay gaps can arise despite the absence of overt discrimination, labor segregation, and inflexible work arrangements, even after experience, education, and other human capital factors are controlled for. Findings highlight the need to examine other possible causes of the gender pay gap. Potential strategies for reducing the pay gap on online labor markets are also discussed.

scholarly journals Online labor platforms versus temp agencies: What are the differences?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Meijerink ◽  
Martijn Arets
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Supply ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labor Market Intermediaries ◽  
Online Marketplaces ◽  
Online Labor ◽  
Labor Supply And Demand ◽  
Market Intermediaries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare online labor platforms (OLPs) such as Upwork, Fiverr, YoungOnes and Temper with traditional temp agencies. At a first glance, OLPs and temp agencies strongly resemble each other while they aim to meet the need for short-term labor of organizations. The authors ask the question how these labor market intermediaries differ on issues such as information technology usage, ways how labor supply and demand are matched and working conditions (e.g. status, pay and social security of workers). Design/methodology/approach Next to a review of the academic literature, the authors conducted interviews with representatives of six OLPs and temp agencies in the Netherlands as well as a legal specialist in Dutch labor law. Findings The authors found that OLPs and temp agencies differ on several issues. First, although OLPs rely on online marketplaces for matching labor supply and demand, temp agencies generally rely on human matchmakers. Second, although OLPs enable workers and client organizations to initiate transactions themselves, temp agencies employ representatives that do the matching for workers and clients. Third, and as a result, OLPs afford client organizations to almost instantly hire workers on-demand, whereas the flexibility and speed that temp agencies can offer depend on availability and processing capacity of human matchmakers. Originality/value According to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to compare OLPs and temp agencies and, in doing so, offers academics and practitioners an analytical framework to compare different types of labor market intermediaries.

The Demotivating Effects of Communicating a Social-Political Stance: Field Experimental Evidence from an Online Labor Market Platform

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa C. Burbano
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Employee Motivation ◽  
Human Capital Management ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Strategic Human Capital ◽  
Political Stance ◽  
Online Labor

Despite a recent surge in corporate activism, with firm leaders communicating about social-political issues unrelated to their core businesses, we know little about its strategic implications. This paper examines the effect of an employer communicating a stance about a social-political issue on employee motivation, using a two-phase, preregistered field experiment in an online labor market platform. Results demonstrate an asymmetric treatment effect of taking a stance depending on whether the employee agrees or disagrees with that stance. Namely, I observe a demotivating effect of taking a stance on a social-political issue with which employees disagree and no statistically significant motivating effect of taking a stance on a social-political issue with which employees agree. This study has important implications for the nascent scholarship on corporate activism, as well as the scholarship on strategic human capital management. This paper was accepted by Greta Hsu, organizations.

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