Algorithmic burden and the hidden costs of creative entrepreneurship: a phenomenological study of artrepreneurs under platform governance

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the experiences of algorithmic governance among artrepreneurs in platform-based creative entrepreneurship and how they respond to it. Although digital platforms are often presented as opportunities that enable infrastructure, there is a limited understanding of the often unrecognised psychological and structural costs imposed on creative entrepreneurs who conduct business in veiled algorithmic regimes. The paper presents the notion of algorithmic burden that describes the growing pressures platform governance exerts upon the artrepreneur. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative phenomenological research design was adopted to understand the first-hand experiences of artrepreneurs who operated in social media ecosystems. In-depth interviews with 25 artrepreneurs in various creativity fields such as painting, photography, digital art and craft-based practices were carried out. Data were analysed using an iterative thematic approach, starting with the first-order experience codes and leading to the second-order and higher-order themes and theoretical dimensions. Findings The results indicate that a cumulative condition in platform-based creative entrepreneurship is conceptualised as algorithmic burden and is divided into four dimensions interrelated to one another that include visibility labour, identity fragmentation, temporal compression and reputational vulnerability. Collectively, these dimensions transform entrepreneurial work in such a way that it brings in sustained cognitive, affective and time demands that surpass the conventional entrepreneurial demands. The findings also show that artrepreneurs devise coping mechanisms, including boundary work, platform diversification, identity protection and temporal discipline, but these mechanisms mitigate, but do not eliminate, the structural forces of platform governance. Originality/value This research contributes to existing discussions of platform entrepreneurship by offering algorithmic burden as a conceptual lens for understanding how algorithmically mediated demands are experienced by artrepreneurs. To begin with, it presents the form of algorithmic burden as a new construct in which the invisible labour of platform-based entrepreneurship is embodied. Second, it applies insights from the job demands–resources perspective to platform-based creative entrepreneurship and highlights how algorithmic governance may produce asymmetrical demand-resource configurations. Third, it offers new insights into entrepreneurial resilience as a contextually constrained process within platform-based creative entrepreneurship and provides a richer understanding of entrepreneurial agency under conditions of a platform-controlled ecosystem.