Online Labour Platforms, Human Resource Management and Platform Ecosystem Tensions: An Institutional Perspective

This chapter addresses the tensions arising from institutional complexity that are associated with the use of human resource management (HRM) activities by many online labour platforms (OLPs). OLPs rely on HRM activities to control gig workers who ought to be autonomous in their work. This creates tensions between the institutional logics of the market (i.e. free and unregulated competition among freelance gig workers) and corporation, which manifest as institutional complexity. In this chapter, we examine why the business model of online labour platforms, and platform ecosystems they create, requires the use of HRM activities and how this creates institutional complexity. Moreover, we explore the consequences of the institutional complexity for gig workers, platforms and societal stakeholders, and solutions on the platform and societal level to address the institutional complexity associated with HRM activities that serve to control gig worker performance.