What Is on Your Gig Radar? Toward a Hierarchical Structure of Coping

Abstract

Digitalized independent workers, known as gig workers, have been shown to work under high-pressure, with a lack of autonomy, a lack of feedback and perceived competence, and a high level of isolation. We conducted a literature review to investigate how gig workers cope with these sources of stress. We identified primary sources of psychological stress in gig work and the main strategies used by workers for coping with them. We show that focusing solely on identifying coping strategies depicts a fragmented literature, making it impossible to compare, link, or aggregate findings. We suggest a radar classification of coping based on the motivational action theory of coping and self-determination theory that defines coping as a process to adapt to the environment and maintain well-being. We argue that this framework is both relevant and necessary for developing research on gig-worker coping.