The Condition of the Turking Class: Are Online Employers Fair and Honest?

TL;DR

This study investigates perceptions of fairness and honesty among online workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk, finding that workers view online employers as slightly more fair and honest than offline employers, with polarized opinions.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on worker perceptions of online versus offline employers, highlighting nuanced views and the polarization in perceptions.

Findings

Workers perceive online employers as slightly more honest and fair than offline employers.

Perceptions of online employers are more polarized, with some viewing them very positively.

Overall, the difference in perceived honesty and fairness is not statistically significant.

Abstract

Online labor markets give people in poor countries direct access to buyers in rich countries. Economic theory and empirical evidence strongly suggest that this kind of access improves human welfare. However, critics claim that abuses are endemic in these markets and that employers exploit unprotected, vulnerable workers. I investigate part of this claim using a randomized, paired survey in which I ask workers in an online labor market (Amazon Mechanical Turk) how they perceive online employers and employers in their host country in terms of honesty and fairness. I find that, on average, workers perceive the collection of online employers as slightly fairer and more honest than offline employers, though the effect is not significant. Views are more polarized in the online employer case, with more respondents having very positive views of the online collection of employers.