This study aims to describe food delivery workers experiences in the gig economy of a specific company, their relationship with the trade union, and their thoughts on their future, within and outside the industry. The empirical data consists of seven semi-structured interviews. The purpose will be answered with help of the theoretical concepts of precariat, dependency, algorithmic control, and aspirations. Previous research in algorithmic control and the precariat shows that the freedom that the work provides, the so-called flexibility, exists under the algorithmic control, but isn’t considered positive for everyone. Those who benefit from flexibility are those who have other occupations, and they are the ones who are more likely to be satisfied with the work. At the same time, the flexible work can be negative for others, with negative impact on their mental health, which means that they are less to be satisfied with the work and they experience the precarious to a greater extent. This study shows that the workers are exposed to insecure work through mental and physical risks, which are the results of the conditions that the algorithmic control and the company produces. The workers with several occupations experience the flexible work as something positive. There is also a culture of silence in the company, where those with permanent contracts are those who try to make a change in the insecure work. Those with short- term contracts are afraid of being sanctioned by the company. The union and the company maintain a precariousness for the workers by not meeting them on their terms. The workers future plans and aspirations are dependent and affected by their Swedish language skills.

This study aims to explore future forms of work and their connection to innovation capabilities. Moreover, to deep-dive into how the gig-economy might evolve through business model innovation within knowledge-intense professions. The gig-economy as a phenomenon is relatively new and previous research is limited. Due to the limited amount of research, it’s safe to assume that the gig-economy still is in an early developing phase and that possible business model development therefore is valuable to predict. The method for this study is a forecast analysis where data from 21 respondents have been collected as well as secondary sources such as newspapers, media, webbinairs and reports. Through thematic analysis of the collected data the study predicts seven upcoming and current trends. These trends lay the groundwork for a scenario prediction resulting in four potential futures for the gig-economy: The public opinion rules, The individual rules, The business giants’ rules and The niche businesses rules. The study finds that the gig-economy has a natural place in the future of work and that it can contain elements which fosters innovation capabilities, partly through open innovation and sharing of competences and knowledge. / Denna studie ämnar undersöka framtidens arbetsformer och hur dessa kan främja innovation. Dessutom djupdyker studien i hur gig-ekonomi kan komma att utvecklas genom affärsmodellsinnovation för kunskapsintensiva yrkesgrupper. Gig-ekonomi är ett relativt nytt fenomen och tidigare forskning på området är begränsat. På grund av arbetsformens unga ålder finns det anledning att tro att vi är i en tidig fas av denna affärsmodell och att det kan finnas ett värde i att undersöka hur en förväntad utveckling kommer se ut. Studien har omvärldsanalys som huvudsaklig metod där data från 21 respondenter samlats in tillsammans med sekundärdata från tidningar, medier, webbinarier och rapporter. Genom tematiska analyser framkommer sju aktuella trender. Dessa trender ligger till grund för ett scenariokors med fyra potentiella framtidsscenarion för gig-ekonomin, opinionen styr, individen styr, företagsjättarna styr och nischade företag styr. Slutsatsen mynnar ut i att gig-ekonomi har en självklar del i framtidens arbetssätt och att gig-ekonomi innehåller element som kan främja innovation, inte minst genom open innovation och delande av kompetens och kunskap.

As the gig economy is growing at a rapid pace and digitalization has spread throughout the management consulting industry, a notable disruption of this traditional industry has occurred. Digitalization in the management consulting industry has affected both how the management consultant does his/her job as well as how the connection between consultant and client and the relationship between colleagues constitutes. Digitalization also facilitates remote working, which has after the Covid-19 pandemic become a high priority. This in turn has enabled the growth of the gig economy and the increasing number of gig worker. Digital gig platforms acting as a meetingplace have increased in both numbers and popularity as well as digital service platforms providing digital tools with the help of SaaS or AI to deliver a more complex solution to the customer. The disruption of the management consulting industry has only begun and therefor it is a need to analyze the way this industry works today and discuss how the industry has adapted to digitalization. Therefor the purpose of this master thesis is to increase the knowledge of how the progress of digital business models affect the management consulting industry by answering the two research questions: “How has the management consulting industry within the area of organizational development been disrupted by the increasing amount of independent workers using gig platforms?” and “How has digitized Service platforms in the area of organizational development changed the traditional management consulting business model?”. This master thesis is conducted through a literature review and semi structured interviews. What can be concluded is that the management consulting industry has been disrupted by the digital platforms in a way that has put pressure on the larger traditional management consulting companies, more digital platforms are created and an increasing number of gig workers have resulted in collaborations between freelancers and traditional management consulting companies. It is also seen that traditional management consulting companies are adopting other business model alternatives that includes solutions based on AI or cloud solutions. / I och med att gigekonomin växer i en snabb takt och digitaliseringen har spridit sig genom hela managementkonsultindustrin har en tydlig påverkan skett på denna traditionella industri. Digitaliseringen i managementkonsultindustrin har påverkat både hur managementkonsulter utför sitt jobb och kopplingen mellan konsulten och klienten samt vad relationen mellan kollegor har för funktion. Digitalisering gynnar även distansarbete, som efter Covid-19 pandemin har fått en allt högre prioritet på arbetsplatser. Detta har i sin tur medfört en växande gigekonomi med ett ökat antal gigarbetare. Digitala gigplattformar som fungerar som mötesplatser har ökat både i antal och popularitet, likaså digitala serviceplattformar som tillhandahåller digitala verktyg som till exempel SaaS- och AI-lösningar för att kunna tillhandahålla en mer komplex lösning till kunden. Den påverkan som gigekonomi har haft på  managementkonsultindustrin är i början av utvecklingen, vilket skapar ett behov av att industrin och hur denna fungerar idag analyseras, samt diskutera hur industrin har anpassat sig till digitaliseringen. Därför är syftet med detta examensarbete att öka kunskapen kring hur utvecklingen av digitala affärsmodeller påverkat managementkonsultindustrin genom att svara på de två forskningsfrågorna: ”Hur har managementkonsultindustrin inom området organisationsutveckling blivit förändrad av det ökade antalet gigarbetare som använder sig av digitala plattformar” och ”Hur har digitala serviceplattformar inom området organisationsutveckling ändrat de traditionella managementkonsulternas affärsmodeller”. Detta examensarbete utfördes med hjälp av en litteraturstudie samt genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsatsen som kan dras från detta examensarbete är att managementkonsultindustrin har blivit påverkad av digitala plattformar och därmed har satt press på de större traditionella managementkonsultföretagen, fler digitala plattformar skapas och ett ökat antal av gigarbetare har resulterat i en ökning av samarbeten mellan frilansare och traditionella konsultföretag. Resultatet visar vidare att fler traditionella managementkonsultföretag anpassar sig till andra affärsmodellsalternativ som innefattar lösningar baserade på AI eller molntjänster.

Introduction: This qualitative case study extends the research of algorithmic management by examining the experiences of food-delivery workers working for the gig company Foodora. As Foodora promotes the job as flexible and autonomous, the utilisation of labour process theory (LPT) in this study helps to uncover if these sentiments hold true in practice by examining what Foodora’s labour process looks like, and how control, autonomy, and individualism take shape in the workplace. Method: Interviews with eight Foodora delivery workers working in Sweden were carried out, where the data was transcribed and coded. Analysis: Using LPT as a framework for the analysis, the material was coded according to the themes of control, transparency, resistance, consent, and individualism. By doing this, the study contextualises algorithmic management within the wider framework of capitalistic management forms and highlights how it impacts worker experiences. Results: The results show that the experiences of the job were largely different among the individual participants of the study. It is proved that Foodora’s employment of algorithmic management impacts almost every aspect of the daily work since it centres around following automated directives which the workers receive through an app. Individualism is accentuated by a self-entrepreneurial discourse promoted by Foodora and the fact that the workforce is dispersed with limited opportunities to interact. Despite being a dispersed workforce, the workers have been able to organise which has led to a growing number of workers joining the union. Conclusion: The impacts of algorithmic management are proved to be evident. The varied experiences of the job could have multiple explanations and needs to be explored further in relation to economical and societal factors. The effects of the newly implemented collective bargaining agreement also need to be examined in future research.

Gigekonomin är ett växande fenomen på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Gigarbete har både hyllats som en möjlighet att komma in på arbetsmarknaden och kritiserats för sin prekära natur. I den här studien undersöks den sociala konstruktionen av gigarbetare utifrån ett ideologiskt perspektiv. Den empiriska basen är intervjuer med sex gigarbetande matbud. Studiens övergripande argument är att gigföretagens nyliberala strukturer driver fram exploaterande relationer på arbetsmarknaden, samt att genusassociationer och ond optimism används för att kamouflera dessa exploaterande relationer. Tidigare forskning har lagt vikt vid att synliggöra hur femininitet används för att driva fram den nyliberala utvecklingen, men mindre uppmärksamhet har givits till maskulinitet. Den här studien illustrerar hur maskulinitet används för att interpellera gigarbetarna genom associationer till frihet och entreprenörskap. Därtill skildras hur ond optimism – en falsk förhoppning om uppåtgående social mobilitet – bidrar till att locka gigarbetarna att kontinuerligt eftersträva otillgängliga ideologiska drömmar. Vidare behandlas även socialt motstånd till gigekonomin och ideologi. Det teoretiska ramverket vilar på Althussers begrepp ideologi och interpellation. Ett begreppsligt bidrag i studien är formuleringen av dubbelbindande interpellation. Begreppet avser interpellationer som har en dubbelbindande natur, det vill säga situationer där individer anropas på motstridiga vis, exempelvis hur gigarbetare omväxlande tilltalas som servicearbetare och entreprenörer, vilket orsakar osäkerhet och väcker frågan: Vem är jag för er? Genom att undersöka och identifiera ideologiska konstruktioner av arbetare kan framväxande orättvisor och ojämlikheter på arbetsmarknaden belysas ur förbisedda perspektiv. / The gig economy is a growing phenomenon in the Swedish labor market. Gig work has been hailed as an opportunity to enter the labor market, but it has also been criticized for its precarious nature. This study examines the social construction of gig workers from an ideological perspective. Interviews with six food delivery workers form the empirical basis. The overall argument of the study is that the neoliberal structure of the gig companies propels exploitative relations in the labor market, and that gender associations and cruel optimism are used to camouflage these exploitative relations. Previous research has emphasized the importance of femininity in propelling the neoliberal development, but less attention has been given to masculinity. This study illustrates how masculinity is used to interpellate the gig workers through associations to freedom and entrepreneurship. In addition, it depicts how cruel optimism – a false hope of upward social mobility – contributes to attracting the gig workers to continuously pursue inaccessible ideological dreams. Moreover, social resistance is discussed in relation to the gig economy and ideology. The theoretical framework rests on Althusser's concepts of ideology and interpellation. A conceptual contribution in the study is double-binding interpellation. The concept refers to interpellations that have a double-binding nature, meaning situations where individuals are interpellated in contradictory ways. The food delivery workers are exposed to a double-binding interpellation when they are alternately interpellated as service workers and entrepreneurs, which causes uncertainty and raises the question: Who am I to you? By examining and identifying ideological constructions of workers, emerging injustices and inequalities in the labor market can be highlighted from overlooked perspectives.

Labor market matching has significant economic and social impacts since a low matching efficiency/quality reduces aggregated gains in productivity and wages and may lead to unemployment and job vacancy. IT has played a crucial role in influencing labor markets matching by reducing search costs, lowering enter barriers, and promoting flexibility. In this dissertation, I explore one antecedent (i.e., digital labor markets) and two consequences of labor market matching (i.e., local employment and wage). The first essay examines the role of project descriptions (i.e., codifiability, flexibility, outcome standards) in influencing the matching efficiency in the digital labor markets. The results find that an appropriate project description could improve the matching efficiency by 15% between employers and service providers. The second essay studies the impact of an extension in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program (STEM OPT), an immigration policy that matches local demand with global supply, on local labor markets. I found that the STEM OPT extension boosts employment for domestic IT professionals by promoting innovative and entrepreneurial activities. The third essay studies the impact of an emerging gig platform (i.e., TaskRabbit), a new matching mechanism, on the employment of workers in the housekeeping industry. The results suggest that the platform mostly impacted middle-level management (e.g., first-line supervisors), while the manual workers, such as cleaners and janitors, were not as affected. The contributions and implications of each essay are discussed. / Business Administration/Management Information Systems

The present project provides a survey of contemporary work relations in the context of the so-called gig economy (also known as the sharing, collaborative, platform, and on-demand economy). Against the background of recent concerns over automation replacing work at a large scale, the project argues instead that the displacement of work warrants more critical attention. The project examines how the gig economy presents their services as automating technologies while downplaying the ways that workers' employment, not to mention lives, are made increasingly precarious by these alleged improvements. Specifically, the project surveys three gig-economies, the ride-hailing service Uber, the home-sharing service Airbnb, and the online labor marketplace Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT). Methodologically, the project employs an interdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from political economy, critical theory, discourse analysis, and ethnographic research. A qualitative assessment of the respective work environments shifts a relatively apolitical discourse on the future of work not only toward a more pronounced critique of the gig economy, but also toward a renewed discussion on the kinds of jobs that earn the labels of freelance and entrepreneurship. Professionals and scholars concerned with the future of work stand to benefit from the findings of the research, particularly as it challenges some commonplace assumptions in the discourse of what has been termed postcapitalism. / Ph. D. / The present project provides a survey of contemporary work relations in the context of the so-called gig economy (also known as the sharing, collaborative, platform, and ondemand economy). Against the background of recent concerns over automation replacing work at a large scale, the project argues instead that the displacement of work warrants more critical attention. The project examines how the gig economy presents their services as automating technologies while downplaying the ways that workers’ employment, not to mention lives, are made increasingly precarious by these alleged improvements. Specifically, the project surveys three gig economies, the ride-hailing service Uber, the home-sharing service Airbnb, and the online labor marketplace Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT). Methodologically, the project employs an interdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from political economy, critical theory, discourse analysis, and ethnographic research. A qualitative assessment of the respective work environments shifts a relatively apolitical discourse on the future of work not only toward a more pronounced critique of the gig economy, but also toward a renewed discussion on the kinds of jobs that earn the labels of freelance and entrepreneurship. Professionals and scholars concerned with the future of work stand to benefit from the findings of the research, particularly as it challenges some commonplace assumptions in the discourse of what has been termed postcapitalism.

Arbetsmarknaden är i ständig förändring. Som ett resultat av globalisering, digitalisering och nya kommunikationsvägar har det vuxit fram nya fenomen på arbetsmarknaden, bland annat gig-ekonomin. Fenomenet kan beskrivas som ett sätt att organisera och effektivisera arbete genom digital teknik. Ett exempel på detta är att det idag går att beställa hem mat via en app i telefonen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur leveranspersoner inom gig-ekonomin upplever sitt arbete och sin situation. Denna grupp kan sägas tillhöra de som har den sämsta situationen på arbetsmarknaden. Studien ämnar även att undersöka om leveranspersoner har ett klassmedvetande och hur de i sådant fall beskriver det. För att besvara syftet genomfördes en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio leveranspersoner från företaget Foodora. Resultatet visade att de upplevelser som kännetecknar leveranspersonernas arbete är ekonomisk otrygghet, flexibilitet och självständighet. Resultaten visar även att leveranspersoner har ett klassmedvetande genom stark sammanhållning och kunskap om facket. Särskilt intressant var att arbetets flexibilitet upplevdes olika beroende på om de intervjuade hade arbetet som sin huvudsakliga sysselsättning eller om det var ett extrajobb. De leveranspersoner som hade arbetet som extrajobb föreföll enligt studien mer positiva till det flexibla arbetssättet, jämfört med de individer som hade det som huvudsaklig sysselsättning.

The actual traffic flow theory assumes interactions only between neighbouring vehicles within the traffic. This assumption is reasonable, but it is based on the possibilities of science and technology available decades ago, which are currently overcome. Obviously, in general, there is an interaction between vehicles at greater distances (or between multiple vehicles), but at the time, no procedure has been put forward to quantify the distance of this interaction. This work introdukce a method, which use mathematical statistics and precise measurement of time distances of individual vehicles, which allows to determine these interacting distances (between several vehicles) and its validation for narrow densities of traffic flow. It has been revealed that at high traffic flow densities there is an interaction between at least three consecutive vehicles and four and five vehicles at lower densities. Results could be applied in the development of new traffic flow models and its verification.

Bakgrund och problem Gigekonomin är ett framväxande fenomen på arbetsmarknaden. Arbetet inom matbudsbranschen organiseras genom digitala plattformar och buden anses ofta vara egenföretagare. Den svenska modellen har utvecklats genom åren på så vis att arbetsmarknaden ska regleras via förhandlingar mellan fackförbund och arbetsgivarorganisationer. I den svenska lagstiftningen är det inte tydligt vem som ska klassas som arbetsgivare utan det bedöms via faktiska sakförhållanden och tidigare praxis. De som sysselsätter sig med enklare gigarbete är främst migranter vilket tenderar att utöka denna problematik, framför allt genom deras okunskap om svensk arbetsmarknad. Det finns en risk för att gigarbetare och traditionella arbetare kommer att ställas mot varandra. Idag hotar ett eventuellt EU-direktiv gällande plattformsarbete den svenska modellen då lagstiftning inskränker partssamarbetet. Syfte och metod Syftet med studien var att öka förståelsen för gigekonomin i förhållande till den svenska modellen. För att öka denna förståelse valdes en kvalitativ metod där 15 semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med olika parter i den svenska modellen. Respondenterna var arbetare inom gigekonomin och informanterna representerade ett fackförbund och en arbetsgivarorganisation. Resultat och slutsats Studien konkluderar att den svenska modellen utmanas av gigekonomin. Det är av yttersta vikt att arbetsgivarbegreppet reds ut i förhållande till gigekonomin eftersom det är avgörande för hur partssamarbetet ska fortlöpa. Gigarbetarnas medvetenhet om hur svensk arbetsmarknad är tänkt att fungera är likaså viktigt. Ett EU-direktiv kan komma att påverka den svenska modellen genom tvingande lagar som i vissa fall kan gå emot praxis. / Background and problem The gig economy is an emerging phenomenon in the labor market. The work in the food delivery industry is organized through digital platforms and the couriers are often considered to be self-empolyed. The Swedish model has developed over the years in such a way that the labor market is to be regulated through negotiations between trade unions and employers’ organizations. In Swedish legislation, it is not clear who is to be classified as an employer, it is assessed via actual facts and previous practice. Those who engage in simpler gig work are mainly migrants, which tends to expand this problem, primarily through their lack of knowledge of the Swedish labor market. There is a risk that gig workers and traditional workers will be pitted against each other. Today, a potential EU directive regarding platform work threatens the Swedish model as legislation restricts party cooperation. Purpose and method The purpose of the study was to increase the understanding of the gig economy in relation to the Swedish model. To increase this understanding, a qualitative method was chosen where 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with different parties in the Swedish model. The respondents were workers in the gig economy and the informants represented a trade union and an employers’ organization. Results and conclusion The study concludes that the Swedish model is being challenged by the gig economy. It is of the utmost importance that the employer concept is sorted out in relation to the gig economy, as it is decisive for how the party cooperation is to proceed. The gig workers' awareness of how the Swedish labor market is intended to function is also important. An EU directive may affect the Swedish model through mandatory laws that in some cases may go against practice.