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ICMS 2025 Call- Stream on 'Alienation and Disempowerment in the Gig Economy'

  • 1.  ICMS 2025 Call- Stream on 'Alienation and Disempowerment in the Gig Economy'

    Posted 19 days ago

    *With apologies for cross-posting*

    Dear Colleagues,

    This is just a gentle reminder for those interested to submit to our stream on "Alienation and Disempowerment in the Gig Economy" at the upcoming ICMS conference. Abstracts are due by January 31st. The call for papers can be found below. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

    We look forward to your submissions,
    Nisha Nair & Neharika Vohra

    CALL FOR PAPERS


    14th International Critical Management Studies Conference, Manchester, June 18-20, 2025

    Stream: Alienation and Disempowerment in the Gig Economy

    Conveners:

    Nisha Nair, Clinical Associate Professor, Pitt Business, University of Pittsburgh, nnair@pitt.edu

    Neharika Vohra, Professor, IIM Ahmedabad, neharika@iima.ac.in

    Deadline for Submission: January 31st, 2025

    Decision for Acceptance: February 21st, 2025

    The concept of alienation has a rich history, from the initial Marxian conception of alienation inherent in industrial society (Marx, 1844/1932) and the study of employee disconnect amongst blue collar workers in factory line work (Blauner, 1964), to its resurgence in modern society with the study of alienation experienced by knowledge workers and those engaged in professional line work (Nair & Vohra, 2010, 2009; Shantz, Alfes, & Truss, 2014) and the renewed attention to it amidst the COVID-19 pandemic (Fahy, McCartney, Fu, & Roche, 2024; Lagios, Lagios, Stinglhamber, & Caesens, 2023).

    Central to the complex construct of alienation is the experience of disconnect or estrangement from work (Nair & Vohra, 2010; Shantz, Alfes, & Truss, 2014). Alienation has been thought to emerge from a variety of factors such as organizational structural factors contributing to lack of control and worker autonomy (Blauner, 1964), high centralization, and isolating conditions such as poor-quality work relationships, perceptions of injustice at work and diminishing meaning derived from work (Chiaburu, Thundiyil, & Wang, 2014; Nair & Vohra, 2010, 2012).

    More recently there has been some interest examining work alienation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic (Fahy et al., 2024; Tang, Liu, Loi, Chow, & Jiang, 2024). Conditions such as higher role ambiguity and occupational disidentification as experienced by certain professions such as nurses have been linked to alienation experienced during the pandemic (Tang et al., 2024). Factors such as work from home, ensuing isolation at work and job insecurities (Mehta, 2022), along with professional isolation and decreased meaningfulness have all been cited as factors contributing to worker alienation amidst the recent pandemic and its induced changes in work (Lagios et al., 2023).

    Amidst this renewed attention to the experience of work alienation today (He & Zhou,2023), it is worth examining what the experience of work alienation looks like for new forms of work, particularly in the context of the gig economy and increase in remote and hybrid forms of work.

    With the workforce today increasingly engaged in gig work, questions are being asked whether such forms of work contribute to social isolation, work precarity, and other forms of disempowerment (MacDonald & Giazitzoglu, 2019; Montgomery, & Baglioni, 2021; Nair, 2022; Wu & Huang, 2024). Emergent research is beginning to suggest alienation may be tied to the gig economy and platform work (Bucher, Fieseler, Lutz, & Buhmann, 2024; Kaseem, 2023). 

    With a lot of platform work involving microworkers engaged in remote digital work governed by algorithms, such forms of decontextualized labor are seen as contributing to the experience of alienation owing to the granular nature of work (Bucher et al., 2024). The gig economy and platform work has also been linked to worker precarity (Montgomery, & Baglioni, 2021), with the non-standard nature of employment and ensuing precarity contributing to a lack of control, disempowerment and alienation (MacDonald & Giazitzoglu, 2019).

    While on one hand gig work is thought to provide work autonomy (Glavin, Bierman, & Schieman, 2021), with autonomy negatively related to work alienation, both historically (Blauner, 1964) and as seen more recently (Vanderstukken, & Caniëls, 2021), some argue that the perceived work flexibility in gig work is actually a myth (Kincaid & Reynolds, 2024). Drawing on empirical work from the UK, it has been reported that the realities of gig work often stand at odds with the exhalatory promises of the gig economy boosting autonomy and control (MacDonald & Giazitzoglu, 2019). Considering the psychological effects of gig work, researchers have begun suggesting (Glavin, Bierman, & Schieman, 2021) that algorithmic control and deindividuated work common in gig work can nullify any benefits of perceived autonomy, contributing to increased sense of isolation and powerlessness, all central to the conception of alienation. In another ethnographic study of workers engaged in Amazon's platform ecosystem, it has been shown that the nature of the platform economy with atomized work governed by algorithmized practices, reduces worker agency and contributes to their sense of isolation and alienation (Kassem, 2023).

    Thus, remote gig work shaped by the platform economy and mediated by algorithmic control, while granting some degree of work control, is also thought to contribute to social isolation and decreased control owing to the precarious nature of work (Wood, Graham, Lehdonvirta, & Hjorth, 2019). It is to be seen what effects gig work, the platform economy, and work precarity will ultimately have on the experience of alienation and other forms of worker disempowerment.

    Based on the above, we are particularly interested in how regenerative forms of work such as gig work and remote work affect the experience of work, particularly on worker agency and their perceptions of empowerment or disempowerment. Considering disempowerment, we are particularly interested in any effects and interactions with work alienation that platform work or remote work brings. Thus, we invite papers and conversations that focus on any of the following-

    • Impact of the gig economy on work perceptions of empowerment and disempowerment.
    • How does regenerative forms of work such as platform work and remote work affect work alienation?
    • Precarious work and its effects on worker connect or disconnect from work, such as increased identification or dis-identification with work.
    • Drivers, consequences and forms of work alienation in the gig economy.
    • Does platform work and remote work increase or decrease autonomy and control for the worker?
    • How do workers regenerate their relationship with work when faced with disempowerment or alienation in navigating new forms of work?
    • Other emergent forms of work and their impact on worker empowerment or disempowerment.

    The above areas of exploration are not exhaustive but only indicative of the thrust of the stream. We welcome all forms of engagement that advance understanding of the experience of work alienation and disempowerment in new forms of work such as the gig economy and platform work. This includes both conceptual and empirical papers using different epistemologies and methodologies. In line with the CMS spirit of encouraging dialogue and discourse in multiple ways, we are also interested in alternative forms of engaging beyond research papers, by inviting those directly engaging with work in non-traditional forms such as gig workers, precarious workers, workers with allegiances to multiple organizations, independent workers and those having experienced work alienation to share their stories and experiences of empowerment or disempowerment through in-depth conversations and dialogue. Thus, the stream is also open to exploring through live case studies any form of lived experience of nontraditional work that furthers our conversation on regenerative work and its effects on worker perceptions of empowerment or disempowerment.

    Stream Format: The stream will be offered in both the in-person and hybrid format. 

    Submission instructions: To be considered, please submit either an abstract (minimum 500 words, maximum 1000 words) summarizing research or expressing intent of participation outlining linkage to alienation and disempowerment in the context of non-traditional work, or a full paper (8000-10,000 words) to nnair@pitt.edu and neharika@iima.ac.in by January 31st, 2025.

    References

    Blauner, R. (1964). Alienation and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Bucher, E., Fieseler, C., Lutz, C., & Buhmann, A. (2024). Professionals, purpose-seekers, and passers-through: How microworkers reconcile alienation and platform commitment through identity work. New Media & Society, Vol. 26 Issue 1, pp. 190-215.

    Chiaburu, D. S., Thundiyil, T., & Wang, J. (2014). Alienation and its correlates: A meta-analysis. European Management Journal, Vol. 32 Issue 1, pp. 24-36.

    Fahy, A., McCartney, S., Fu, N., & Roche, J. (2024). Investigating the indirect impact of transformational leadership on performance and work alienation: evidence from school principals navigating COVID-19. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 45 Issue 5, pp. 877-899.

    Glavin, P.,  Bierman, A., & Schieman, S. (2021) Über-Alienated: Powerless and alone in the gig economy. Work & Occupations, Vol. 48 Issue 4, pp. 399-431.

    He, J., & Zhou, M. (2023). How overqualification, work alienation, and employment relationship atmosphere affect employees' turnover intention. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Iournal, Vol. 51 Issue 6, pp. 1-9.

    Kassem, S. (2023). Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organization. Bristol University Press, ISBN: 978–1529226546.

    Kincaid, R., & Reynolds, J. (2024). Unconventional work, conventional problems: Gig microtask work, inequality, and the flexibility mystique. Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 65 Issue 2, pp. 246-268.

    Lagios, C., Lagios, N., Stinglhamber, F., & Caesens, G. (2023). Predictors and consequences of work alienation in times of crisis: Evidence from two longitudinal studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Psychology, Vol. 42 Issue 26, pp. 22866-22880. 

    MacDonald, R., & Giazitzoglu, A. (2019). Youth, enterprise and precarity: or, what is, and what is wrong with, the 'gig economy'? Journal of Sociology, Vol. 55 Issue 4, pp. 724-740.

    Marx, K. (1932). Economic and philosophical manuscripts. In Marx-Engels Gesamtuasgabe, vol. 3. Berlin, Germany: Marx-Engels Institute. (Originally published 1844)

    Mehta, Pr. (2022). Work alienation as a mediator between work from home-related isolation, loss of task identity and job insecurity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 15 Issue 3, pp. 287-307.

    Montgomery, T., Baglioni, S. (2021). Defining the gig economy: platform capitalism and the reinvention of precarious work. International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, Vol. 41 Issue 9/10, pp. 1012-1025.

    Nair, G. (2022). 'New' terrains of precarity – gig work in India. Contemporary South Asia, Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp. 388-401.

    Nair, N., & Vohra, N. (2009). Developing a new measure of work alienation. Journal of Workplace Rights, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 293-309.

    Nair, N., & Vohra, N. (2010). An exploration of factors predicting work alienation of knowledge workers, Management Decision, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 600-615.

    Nair, N., & Vohra, N. (2012). The concept of alienation: Towards conceptual clarity. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 25-50.

    Shantz, A., Alfes, K., & Truss, C. (2014).  Alienation from work: Marxist ideologies and twenty-first-century practice. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 25 Issue 18, pp. 2529-2550.

    Tang, H., Liu, Y., Loi, R., Chow, C. W. C., & Jiang, N. (2024). Role ambiguity and work alienation during the COVID-19 pandemic: the perspective of occupational disidentification. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 117-130.

    Vanderstukken, A., & Caniëls, M. C. J. (2021). Predictors of work alienation: differences between hierarchical levels. Career Development International, Vol. 26 Issue 5, pp. 640-656.

    Wood, A.J., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., & Hjorth, I. (2019). Good gig, bad gig: Autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy. Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 33 Issue 1, pp. 56-75.

    Wu, D., & Huang, J. L. (2024). Gig work and gig workers: An integrative review and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 45 Issue 2, pp. 183-208.



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    Nisha Nair
    Clinical Associate Professor
    Katz Graduate School of Business
    University of Pittsburgh
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