Digitally Enabling or Constraining: Unfolding the Paradox of Platform-Mediated Work

Digital platforms are pervasive and powerful in almost all economic sectors. In this symposium, we introduce four papers that focus on digital platforms and consider their impact on the transformation of work and work relationships. These four studies address how digital platforms reconfigure employment, careers, and the relationship between work and non-work activities, contributing to the proliferation of the gig economy. We emphasize the need to understand how core interactions involving multiple platform participants shape workers’ experiences in work and non-work spheres, directly contributing to the AOM 2022 theme “Creating a Better World Together”. Overall, these papers help identify conceptual ambiguity and empirical inconsistencies, utilize multiple methodological approaches, reflect unique features of web-based and location-based digital platforms, and represent diverse samples of workers and firms from Asia, Europe, and North America. Does App Work Hurt Job Performance? Evidence from an Online Food-Delivery Platform in China Presenter: Hao Zhang; Remin U. of China Presenter: Can Ouyang; Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong U. Algorithmic Work-Life Balance: How Gig Workers Manage Work-Life Boundaries on Platforms Presenter: Francesca Bellesia; Dep. of Sciences and Methods for Engineering, U. of Modena and Reggio Emilia Presenter: Fabiola Bertolotti; U. of Modena and Reggio Emilia Presenter: Elisa Mattarelli; San Jose State U. Can I Address Algorithm-driven Information Inadequacy? Presenter: Bulin Zhang; Rutgers U. Presenter: Xiangmin Liu; Rutgers U., New Brunswick Bonding in Isolation: Worker Collectives in the Digital Space Presenter: Yao Yao; Telfer School of Management, U. of Ottawa Presenter: Lorenzo Frangi; UQAM U. of Quebec in Montreal, Canada