Career shock ambivalence, univalence or indifference? Novel insights on the drivers and outcomes of gig workers’ responses to the disappearance of an online labor platform

Purpose This study examines gig workers’ responses to the sudden disappearance of an online labor platform (OLP) as a career shock. In line with theorizing on the hybrid status of gig workers, we examine economic dependence and core self-evaluations as bipolar antecedents to explain why individual workers may experience a single career shock as ambivalence (i.e. as both a positive and negative experience), in contrast to states of univalence (i.e. either positive or negative experience) and indifference (i.e. neither positive nor negative). We also study career crafting and career inaction as bipolar behavioral responses to show that ambivalence in career shock experience triggers ambivalence in career-related behaviors. Design/methodology/approach To test our hypotheses, we used survey data obtained from a sample of 227 Deliveroo workers in the Netherlands who worked for the platform before it suddenly withdrew from the country. We analyzed our data using structural equation modeling. Findings We found that approximately 20% of the respondents had ambivalent experiences of the departure of Deliveroo (i.e. simultaneous positive and negative experiences) in contrast to 49% who were indifferent (i.e. experienced this career shock to be neither positive nor negative). As gig workers’ economic dependence on platform-based work grows, they are more likely to view the loss of an OLP as a negative career shock. The sudden disappearance of an OLP is (also) more likely to be experienced as a positive career shock when gig workers’ core self-evaluation increases (as well). Moreover, positive experiences of a career shock relate positively to career crafting, while negative experiences relate positively to career inaction. Originality/value We show why unexpected career-related events are simultaneously perceived by workers as both negative and positive career shocks. Moreover, we show that workers can simultaneously be proactive and inactive in making career-related changes – a dual state that occurs when they develop ambivalent perceptions of a career shock. Finally, workers with heightened states of vulnerability (i.e. high economic dependence on platform work and low core self-evaluation) are most adversely affected by the sudden disappearance of an OLP and the career shock this engenders in the novel context of gig work.