Decoding the Meaning of Success on Digital Labor Platforms: Worker-Centered Perspectives

TL;DR

This study explores how digital labor platform workers define and experience success, revealing multiple success dimensions and the influence of platform features on their career perceptions.

Contribution

It introduces seven success indicators and three platform mediators, offering a nuanced, worker-centered perspective on success in digital labor platforms.

Findings

Seven success dimensions identified among workers

Three platform factors influence success perceptions

Workers' success perspectives evolve over time

Abstract

What does work and career success mean for those who secure their work using digital labor platforms? Traditional research on success predominantly relies on organizationally-centric benchmarks, such as promotions and income. These measures provide limited insights into the evolving nature of work and careers shaped at the intersection of digital labor platform technologies and workers' evolving perspectives. Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of 108 digital labor platform workers on Upwork, we (1) identify seven dimensions of success indicators that reflect workers' definitions of success in platform-mediated work and careers, (2) delineate three dimensions of digital labor platforms mediating workers' experiences of success and (3) examine the shifting perspectives of these workers relative to success. Based on these findings, we discuss the implications of platform-mediated success in workers' labor experiences, marked by platformic management, standardization, precarity and ongoing evolution. Our discussion intertwines CSCW scholarship with career studies, advancing a more nuanced understanding of the evolving perspectives on success in platform-mediated work and careers.