Damion Jonathan Bunders , Martijn Arets , Koen Frenken , Tine De Moor
{"title":"The feasibility of platform cooperatives in the gig economy","authors":"Damion Jonathan Bunders , Martijn Arets , Koen Frenken , Tine De Moor","doi":"10.1016/j.jcom.2022.100167","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In view of the precarity and economic dependency of gig workers, platform cooperatives come into the picture as alternatives to investor-owned platforms. We develop a taxonomy of platform cooperatives along the dimensions of ownership of the platform and employment by the cooperative. Platform cooperatives are then examined as worker-run matchmaking platforms for gigs, by analysing their challenges, highlighting the difficulties to raise capital, take collective decisions, and gain institutional support. On the basis of a feasibility analysis, we conclude that the identified challenges can most likely be successfully overcome by platform co-ops that organise taxi rides and professional jobs, while it may prove much more difficult in food delivery, homecare and micro-tasking.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":43876,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213297X22000039/pdfft?md5=7cf30b2a8315bb5c0e60d01b7ccc781a&pid=1-s2.0-S2213297X22000039-main.pdf","citationCount":"19","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213297X22000039","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 19
Abstract
In view of the precarity and economic dependency of gig workers, platform cooperatives come into the picture as alternatives to investor-owned platforms. We develop a taxonomy of platform cooperatives along the dimensions of ownership of the platform and employment by the cooperative. Platform cooperatives are then examined as worker-run matchmaking platforms for gigs, by analysing their challenges, highlighting the difficulties to raise capital, take collective decisions, and gain institutional support. On the basis of a feasibility analysis, we conclude that the identified challenges can most likely be successfully overcome by platform co-ops that organise taxi rides and professional jobs, while it may prove much more difficult in food delivery, homecare and micro-tasking.