A silver lining for the excluded: Exploring experiences that micro-task crowdsourcing affords workers with impaired work access

Abstract

Micro-task crowdsourcing (MTCS) platforms offer alternative work settings outside traditional work boundaries and thus increasingly attract crowdworkers who face exclusion from access to other work. However, we know little about these crowdworkers' perspective on MTCS and its implications for their personal life. Building on insights from three qualitative surveys with responses from 538 crowdworkers and 576 forum posts in total, we show that despite the often challenging work conditions, MTCS platforms provide these crowdworkers with a work environment in which they can participate in paid work activities without feeling excluded due to their personal circumstances. As a result, MTCS platform work provides these crowdworkers with a set of positive experiences that were not possible before. These afforded experiences go beyond work-related experiences but relate directly to crowdworkers' personal situation and life. Our research yields implications for the literature on MTCS and also for policy makers and stakeholders concerned with the creation of more inclusive work settings.