Working everywhere and every time?—Chances and risks in crowdworking and crowdsourcing work design

Abstract

This article of the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) deals with the question how work and organizational psychology can contribute to a better understanding of work design in crowdwork. Over the last decade, crowdsourcing (CS) has gained much momentum and attention, yet people who use CS as an additional or exclusive source of income are experiencing less consideration overall. Therefore, we define the term crowdwork (CW), and delimit it from related concepts, e.g., CS and gig economy. We then address how work and organizational psychology theory can contribute to the research of CW, with a focus on work design, and where new approaches are necessary. We give an overview of current research in this field, and derive suggestions and recommendations for both further research approaches and also practical application of work design in CW.