Examining how the gig economy is experienced by low to high skilled workers

这个博士将研究在零工经济中，零工工人和雇主之间是否存在心理契约（PC）。心理契约（PC）被定义为“由组织塑造的个人信念，关于个人与组织之间的交换协议”（Rousseau 1995：9）。理论家指出，所有员工都形成了PC，但很少有人知道他们如何在组织和独立承包商之间形成。零工工作不同于标准的企业-组织关系，零工关系通常基于不定期的服务合同，而不是服务合同，以使零工工作者远离雇员身份（弗里德曼，2014;卡莱伯格，2000）。因此，这为组织、零工和消费者提供了不同形式和水平的灵活性/好处。这种利益是由合同条款和演出工作本身的工作性质形成的（Wood等人，二〇一九年; McGaughey，2018年）。该研究将探讨承包商-客户关系中PC的性质如何影响英国不同技能水平的零工工人的职业经历和看法。总体目标是深入了解个人电脑对零工经济中低、中、高技能工人的影响。由于研究的目的是在一个相对较新的领域调查经验，研究将遵循归纳研究设计。将使用深入的半结构化访谈收集数据，以收集原始原始数据。工人将按技能水平分组，以探索和解释组内和组间的差异和相似之处。定性访谈被认为提供了更大的生态有效性，提供了丰富的有见地的帐户和能力，以帮助理解复杂的组织现实（Eby，赫斯特和巴茨，2009年）。深入探讨经济对工人的不同影响可能会突出是否有一个技能水平的经验和态度的实质性变化。由于平台试图最大限度地减少雇主和雇员之间的关系，学术界、法律的和政治界都在争论这些平台上的承包商是否真正独立，或者他们是否可以更恰当地被定义为雇员（Wright等人，2017年）。因此，从工人的角度理解组织义务的观念可能是建立组织和工人之间存在什么样的关系以及如何管理这种关系的关键。在探讨什么类型的工人和组织之间存在的关系在这个经济体中，本研究的目的是使当前的概括和PC的概念化的问题化的理论贡献。对组织和工人之间存在何种关系的这种了解可能有助于监管决策，并限制商业平台在多大程度上可以用来规避就业保护。

This PhD will investigate whether a psychological contract (PC) exists between gig workers and their employer(s) within the gig economy. The psychological contract (PC) is defined as, 'individual beliefs, shaped by the organisation, regarding terms of an exchange agreement between the individual and their organisation' (Rousseau 1995: 9). It has been stated by theorists that all employees form PCs, yet little is known of how they form between an organisation and independent contractors. Gig work differs from the standard employee-organisation relationship with gig relations typically based on irregular contracts for services rather than a contract of services to distance gig workers from employee status (Friedman, 2014; Kalleberg, 2000). This consequently offers differing forms and levels of flexibility/benefits to organisations, gig workers and consumers. Such benefits are formed by the terms of the contract and the nature of the work of the gig work itself (Wood et al., 2019; McGaughey, 2018).The study will explore how the nature of the PC in the contractor-client relationship influences the career experiences and perceptions of gig workers at different skill levels in the UK. The overall aim is to provide insight into the implications of the PC on low, mid and high skilled workers within the gig economy. Since the aim of the research is to investigate experiences within a relatively new area, the research will follow an inductive research design. Data will be collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews to gather original primary data. Workers will be categorised into groups by skill level to explore and explain both intra and inter-group differences and similarities. Qualitative interviews are considered to offer greater ecological validity, providing rich insightful accounts and the ability to help make sense of complex organisational realities (Eby, Hurst and Butts, 2009).An in-depth exploration into the economy's differential effects on workers may highlight whether there is a substantial variation in experiences and attitudes by skill level. Due to platforms attempting to minimise the relationship between employers and employees, there is academic, legal and political debate over whether contractors on these platforms are truly independent or whether they can be more appropriately defined as employees (Wright et al., 2017). Therefore, understanding the perceptions of organisational obligations from the worker perspective could be pivotal in establishing what type of relationship exists between organisations and workers and how this can be managed. In exploring what type of relationship exists between workers and organisations within this economy, this study aims to make a theoretical contribution by problematizing current generalisations and conceptualisations of the PC. Such insights into what relationships exist between organisations and workers may serve to aid regulatory decisions and place constraints on the extent to which business platforms can be used to circumvent employment protections.