Crowdsourcing as a new form of organizing labor relations: regulatory requirements and welfare effects

众包是指机构承担一项传统上由员工履行的职能，并以公开召集的形式将其转包给一大群不确定的人的行为。众包有两种不同的形式：“微型工作”和“在线自由职业”。微工作是指复杂性较低的任务，不需要特定的技能，可以在几秒钟或几分钟内完成。在线自由职业定义了高复杂性的任务，这些任务需要专业知识和专业技能。众包有可能让公司在短时间内完成任务，从而受益于人群的创造力。这种新的组织工作关系的形式也给众包工作者带来了好处，因为他们可以在地理上、及时、灵活地组织自己的工作日。由于工作被分成越来越小的部分，然而，当与众包商和门户网站签约时，工人可能在结构上处于不利地位。该研究项目的目标是分析德国和欧洲法律体系是否了解合适的文书和法规，以确保各自当事人之间的利益平衡，或者是否需要采取监管行动。特别是，我们将调查工人保护权是否可以适用于众包工作者，以及存在或应该存在哪些集体利益保护选项。调查将求助于美国的调查结果，因为那里存在着最大的众包活动经验，而且这种新的劳动关系组织形式的后果最为明显。从经济学的角度，我们分析大众工作者从事这些工作是否为了谋生，或者他们是否遵循不同的目标函数。此外，我们还将分析福利收益如何在众筹人员、门户网站和众包之间分配。在某些情况下，众包工作者实际上可能会感到受到不公平的对待，因此对其他两方采取行动。研究问题将使用比较法律方法以及经验和实验方法来回答。如果立法者通过德国众包法或执行相应的欧盟指令，在这个项目中收集的数据将被用于评估新规则。

Crowdsourcing refers to the act of an institution taking a function traditionally performed by employees and subcontracting it to an undefined and large group of people in the form of an open call. Crowdsourcing comes in two different forms: "microwork" and "online freelancing". Microwork refers to low complexity tasks, for which no particular skills are necessary and which can be completed within seconds or minutes. Online Freelancing defines high complexity tasks, which require specialized knowledge and professional skills. Crowdsourcing bears the potential for companies to have tasks completed at short notice and thereby benefiting from the creativity of the crowd. This new form of organizing work relations brings benefits to crowdworkers as well, as they can organize their work day in a geographically and timely flexible manner. Because the work is divided into ever smaller parts, workers might, however, be structurally disadvantaged when contracting with crowdsourcers and portals. The goal of the research project is to analyze whether the German and European legal system knows suitable instruments and regulations in order to ensure the balancing of interests between the respective parties or whether regulatory action is required. In particular, we will investigate whether worker protection rights can be applied to crowdworkers and which options for the collective protection of interests exist or should exist. The investigation will resort to findings in the United States, as the largest experience with crowdsourcing activities exists there and the consequences of the new form of organizing labor relations became most visible. From the economic perspective we analyze whether crowdworkers perform these jobs to earn a living or whether they follow a different objective function. Moreover, we will analyze how welfare gains are distributed between crowdworkers, portals, and crowdsources. In some cases, crowdworkers might in fact feel treated unfairly and consequently take action against the other two parties. The research questions will be answered using a comparative legal approach as well as empirical and experimental methods. Should the legislator pass a German crowdsourcing law or implement a respective EU directive, the data collected in this project will be used to evaluate the new rules.