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Disruption or continuation? The role of platforms in transforming work

  • One central manifestation of the digital transformation that has caused profound structural changes to all parts of economic and social life are platform companies. The dissemination of platforms is associated with the restructuring of entire markets, the reorganisation of companies and the restructuring of employment relationships. This dissertation asks to what extent platform companies as a new organisational form and their impact on employment represent a disruption or a continuation of liberalization trends that have been in place for a longer time. Two arguments are advanced in this context. First, it is argued that platform companies are worth to be discussed as a distinct topic, as they differ in important regards from previous organisational forms and have profound effects on the political economy of industrialized countries. Platform companies occupy a central position in the economy and control large parts of the critical infrastructure of the internet. Although platform companies share some similarities with previous firm models such as the vertically integrated firm and the nexus of contracts model, they depart in other regards. In particular, network effects and the control of information converted into data points are key features that give them unprecedented power. Second, the effect of platform companies on employment is moderated by institutions. However, not all institutions are equally important. Whereas the employment contract, for instance, has proven to be a very resilient institution preventing the dissemination of independent contractors as preferred employment model of platform companies, the influence of unions has been limited. Moreover, the largest effect of platform companies on employment may be more of an indirect than a direct nature. Platform companies had only limited success in disseminating their preferred employment model of independent contracting, but rather reinforced existing subcontracting trends. All chapters in this dissertation contribute to these arguments from different perspectives. Moving from a macro-perspective to a micro-perspective, Chapter Two represents a review chapter on key features of platforms and their impact on the political economy of industrialized countries. Chapter Three analyses mechanisms that explain responses in ten major European countries to regulate platform work. Finally, Chapter Four represents a case study on the effect of Amazon logistics on employment in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Author(s):Felix Sieker
Advisor:Anke Hassel, Christian Lyhne Ibsen, Markus Helfen
Hertie Collections (Serial Number):Dissertations submitted to the Hertie School (10/2021)
Publication year:2021
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
Granting Institution:Hertie School
Thesis date:2021/08/26
Number pages:126
DOI:https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-4076
Release Date:2021/08/30
Notes:
Shelf mark: 2021D010 + 2021D010+1
Hertie School Research:Publications PhD Researchers
Licence of document (German):Creative Commons - CC BY - 4.0 International
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