Occupational Diversity and Stratification in Platform Work: A Longitudinal Study of Online Freelancers

TL;DR

This longitudinal study examines how occupational diversity influences online freelancers' experiences on digital labor platforms, revealing occupational context's role in shaping work practices and stratification.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of platformic occupational stratification, highlighting how occupational context affects freelancers' management, skills, and sustainability on platforms.

Findings

Occupational context influences freelancers' self-presentation and flexibility.

Four mechanisms explain occupational stratification in platform work.

Occupational embeddedness affects platform work sustainability.

Abstract

We focus on occupational diversity in platform-mediated work to advance conceptual and empirical insight into the occupationally embedded nature of platform labor. We pursue this focus in response to a prevailing tendency to treat platform workers as a homogeneous group, overlooking the unique demands, constraints, and practices rooted in specific professions. Such generalizations hinder both understanding of platform work and the development of sociotechnical systems that support differentiated occupational realities. To address this gap, we present a longitudinal analysis of 108 online freelancers spanning five occupational categories. We show that occupational context structures workers' capacity to interpret and navigate platformic management, shaping distinct experiences across four dimensions of platform work: self-presentation, flexibility, skilling, and platform work sustainability. To articulate how digital labor platforms' managerial control interacts with occupational embeddedness, we introduce the concept of platformic occupational stratification and discuss four mechanisms that explain its logic and implications for platform-mediated work. These insights contribute to CSCW by informing occupation-sensitive research and design approaches that directly engage with the specific opportunities and challenges rooted in workers' situated occupational agency in platform-mediated work.