The purpose of this working paper is to introduce the concept of ‘coworking’ to an academic audience. It argues that coworking is a complex social phenomenon that can be differentiated from other spatial concepts that relate to work, learning and social interactions. The paper provides an historical account of the origins of coworking and reviews the existing scholarly and popular literature, offering a theoretical distinction between coworking spaces and serviced offices that hinges upon the degree of social collaboration versus the importance of location and facilities of the office environment. An overview of recent data on the number and location of coworking spaces across the world is provided, including a few examples that demonstrate the spatial distribution of coworking spaces within cities. It also provides some data on typical coworking profiles, and links coworking to the broader contextual debates on non-standard and creative work. Finally the paper suggests some future research directions by linking relevant extant theory with key questions across the fields of economic geography, urban planning economics and organisational studies.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2722402_code2473629.pdf?abstractid=2712217&mirid=1&type=2

Coworking: A Transdisciplinary Overview

This paper engages discourses about the nature of creative work through a case study of creative worker freelancing on Upwork, an online marketplace. The analysis begins by contextualizing the growth of freelancing in a transformation of capitalism to a mode of flexible accumulation. It is framed against neoliberal narratives about the creative economy, including promises of financial success and freedom from rigid Fordism. An exploration of the characteristics of technology-mediated work on Upwork, including contract structure, wages, consistency of work, risk-management strategies, and profiles of clients and freelancers follows. The findings suggest that despite the company’s emphases on efficiency, flexibility, and freedom from the physical office, freelancers face significant trade-offs in undertaking such work, notably its infrequency, barriers to high wages, and intense global competition. The discussion addresses structural drivers of precarity in the marketplace and of its ongoing success.

“Boundaryless” in the creative economy: assessing freelancing on Upwork

The purpose of this paper is to identify the major factors of client satisfaction (CS) that are critical for web development projects in freelance marketplaces. This quantitative study is done from the point of view of the web development services clients. Five major dimensions were proposed as determinants of CS from the literature review: ease of use, user interface, information, security and privacy.,A web-based survey methodology is used as the main data collection instrument. Statistical techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regressions are used to analyze 162 responses of questionnaires.,The findings suggest that all factors do influence CS. In terms of strength, security had the highest level of impact on CS, so it is the strongest determinant among all factors. After security, ease of use and information are considered as strong determinants. So, this study concludes that the five major determinates do affect CS in web development projects from freelance marketplaces.,This research is limited only to the top freelance marketplaces, such as Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, Guru, Envato Studio, etc. The sample size is relatively small and this study is focused on web development projects only. Moreover, this research is focused only on the characteristics or attributes of the projects final outcome, i.e. website.,This study attempts to identify the important factors that have a relation with CS, thus giving freelancers an indication of what to look for when working on any web development project posted by any client in a freelance marketplace. Understanding the determinants of CS will also help Pakistani information technology freelancers involved in web development projects and services to increase their project performance, improve their CS rate and increment client following.,This presents the first study on the determinants of CS in web development projects from freelance marketplaces.

Determinants of client satisfaction in web development projects from freelance marketplaces

Ex ante assessment of disruptive threats: Identifying relevant threats before one is disrupted

Purpose The labor market has witnessed the increase of the new forms of employment relationship (freelancers, contingent workers, and gig workers) due to the COVID-19 outbreak, generating new workforce patterns that represent a significant challenge for human resource development (HRD) professionals in organizations. Studies that have addressed these new forms of employment relationship and HRD during this pandemic are sparse. This paper aims to broaden the scope of HRD research by exploring the implications of these new forms of employment relationship for HRD in the time of COVID-19. It also provides insights for HRD professionals as well as governments into how to address this challenge. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a viewpoint that addresses the new workforce patterns generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for HRD at the organizational, individual and national levels. Findings COVID-19 sheds light on the importance of atypical workers who can create a competitive advantage for organizations, ensure their continuity and significantly benefit national and societal well-being in times of health crisis. However, these atypical workers are often overlooked when it comes to training and development. Whence the importance, for HRD professionals and governments, to address their situation and to integrate them into organizational and national HRD plans and programs, by going beyond traditional models of HRD which focus mainly on standard employees. Originality/value This paper examines a relatively unexplored topic. Besides examining the implications of the new forms of employment relationship, for HRD, it provides insights for HRD professionals and governments into how to address the challenges related to these new forms of employment relationship.

COVID-19 and the new forms of employment relationship: implications and insights for human resource development

This paper provides a detail review of  conceptualization of a freelancer, describing its history, jobs, earnings, top hiring, freelancer countries, popular websites those serves as broker between employer and freelancer. Study also elaborate differences between an entrepreneur and a freelancer. Study supported by empirical evidences through a non-systematic narrative review of the existing literature. Study exposed facts about freelancers. Firstly , it was found that current organizational structure is changing to support labor market and technological changes, this shows sustainable growth in individual contractors, now referred as freelancer. Secondly , literature review shows that the freelancing is rooted back to 1970s and started growing continuously since 1980s. Thirdly , study distinguished  that the entrepreneur is a person who engages service or product of someone’s to establishes a business; whereas a freelancer is a person who engages own-skills to serve client(s), he/she serves multiple clients for multiple job types. Lastly , empirical evidence shows that freelancing is still considered as a new and different area, researchers and policy makers may explore it further.

https://www.sainshumanika.utm.my/index.php/sainshumanika/article/download/428/392

The Freelancer: A Conceptual Review

The present study aims at determining the reliability and validity of self-administered Affective Disturbance and Distress Scale among working women in Pakistani service organizations. In this regard, questionnaires were distributed among 60 lecturers and doctors. Initially reliability statistics were calculated, which showed that Cronbach’s alphas ranged from 0.71 to 0.81, whereas inter scale correlations ranged from 0.59 to 0.77, thus confirming the reliability of scale. On the other-side, content validity of scale was established through experts or field researchers in the university. Construct validity of scale was checked by Exploratory Factor analysis, which showed that the factor loadings ranged from 0.84 to 0.91. The overall results showed that the Affective Disturbance and Distress scale demonstrated good psychometric properties following its administration among the Pakistani working women. Therefore, it can be utilized as a reliable and valid self-administered instrument for assessing the mental health of working women in Pakistan.

https://www.sainshumanika.utm.my/index.php/sainshumanika/article/view/443/413

Shazia Kazi

Papers

The Freelancer: A Conceptual Review

Reliability and Validity Assessment of Affective Disturbance and Distress Scale Among Working Women in Pakistan