Reason-giving for resistance: obfuscation, justification and earmarking in resisting informal financial assistance

Monetary assistance is a common request from social ties and can be both an economic lifeline and a financial burden. This study examines the relational work at the heart of such exchanges, examining when and how attempts at mobilizing informal financial assistance are resisted. Using qualitative data from West African factory workers, we demonstrate that individuals who wish to resist the provision of assistance without causing relational damage employ rhetorical strategies designed to justify or obfuscate their refusal, relying heavily on socially legitimate reason-giving. The findings reveal that subjective calculations of resource availability are central to the mobilization of assistance, resistant givers differentiate between justification and obfuscation of refusals, and earmarks can play a role in protecting resources from social demands. More broadly, these findings suggest ways that a differential ability to resist social capital mobilization may generate inequalities within social groups.

Managing expectations in financial markets: voluntary accountability practices of capital market regulators in Spain and Turkey

In recent decades, independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) have been introduced as part of public administration reforms around the world. Unlike traditional administrative agencies, most IRAs are not accountable to the executive and their accountability relationship to the legislative tends to be weak. Nevertheless, these agencies often engage in acts of voluntary explanation and justification of their decisions to stakeholders. Based on a comparative study of financial regulation agencies, this article shows that these IRAs resort more actively to voluntary accountability when the expectations of actors interacting with the agency are at conflict. Specifically, we argue that the agency’s ability to manage expectations is shaped by the level of agency independence and the degree of organizational capacity. Our findings contribute to the existing debates by conceptualizing voluntary accountability as a mechanism for managing stakeholders’ conflicting expectations through the lens of financial regulation based on original evidence from Spain and Turkey.

The role of reputation systems in digital discrimination

Reputation systems are commonplace in online markets, such as on peer-to-peer sharing platforms. These systems have been argued to be a solution to (ethnic) discrimination on such platforms. This argument is based on empirical studies showing that ethnic disadvantages are smaller for users with ratings than for users without ratings. We argue that this conclusion may be premature, because minorities have a harder time accumulating ratings. The greater benefit of ratings to minorities may be offset by their troubles acquiring any, thereby diminishing the potential for reputation systems to reduce discrimination. We tested this counterargument using a unique data set that contains information on all interactions on a peer-to-peer motorcycle rental platform. We find that the reputation system does not reduce initial inequalities between otherwise comparable renters of different ethnicity. Platforms that wish to reduce discrimination should not only make their reputation system more effective, but also help users collect ratings.

The inevitable sociality of money: the primacy of practical affirmation over conceptual consensus in the construction of Bitcoin’s economic value

Bitcoin went from being an obscure online project to a globally exchanged money valued at tens of thousands of dollars (USD) per unit. It has achieved this in spite of fundamental irreconcilabilities between the economic theories which spurred its creation and its own material basis. This article investigates how this happened using a computationally grounded analysis of 100 000s of messages from the early years of Bitcoin’s two main online communities. It will show how the continuing divergence in participants’ understandings of why Bitcoin possessed value ultimately gave way to an emerging focus on the social problem of adoption. In demonstrating this shift and accompanying promotion of activities that affirmed Bitcoin had value in practice, this article with argue that shared meaning in the form of practical affirmations of worth, rather than conceptual understandings of it, are key to communities’ ability to ‘bootstrap’ a money’s initial economic value.

The platform economy matures: measuring pervasiveness and exploring power

Online platforms are pervasive and powerful in today’s economy. We explore the increased centrality of platforms in two ways. First, we measure the extent to which platforms are insinuating themselves into the economy. We accomplish this by analyzing the presence of platforms as intermediating organizations across all US service industries at the six-digit North American Industry Classification System code level. Our results show that 70% of service industries, representing over 5.2 million establishments, are potentially affected by one or more platforms. Secondly, we undertake a detailed firm-level case study of the mega-platform, Amazon, which demonstrates the ways that the aforementioned macro-level data is expressed by a single platform firm. This case study shows that Amazon’s growth trajectory has resulted in it entering and transforming existing industries and sectors. We conclude by reflecting upon the limitations and implications for future research.

Steering the transition from informal to formal service provision: labor platforms in emerging-market countries

Services that are especially suited to being offered via online labor platforms, such as cleaning, driving and tutoring, are frequently performed in an informal way, especially in emerging-market countries. The informal economy is thus important for recruiting workers for labor platforms. Platform use, however, requires formal service provision, which workers in the informal economy often resist. Thus, labor platforms have to promote workers’ transition from informal to formal service provision. While recent studies have hinted at labor platforms’ fostering of formal economic activity, we know little about how such intermediation unfolds. We use a process lens and comprehensive qualitative data on labor platforms in Panama and Mexico to study how labor platforms steer workers to formal service provision. Detailing the interactive process of workers transitioning to formal service provision as triggered by labor platforms, we add to platform research and literature on intermediation between informal and formal economic activity.