Gigger

: exploring unconventional student job opportunities within the platform economy : an evaluation of a digital labour business idea

Abstract

The past years have substantially transformed the labour landscape. Among other factors, advanced contemporary technologies and the COVID pandemic have disrupted traditional methods of working. With over 150 million individuals already participating in the platform economy, the digital labour market has become an inevitable reality for the modern workforce.Not only limited to transportation and food delivery, companies such as Upwork or Fiverr.com have made the majority of different professions flexibly accessible to end consumers. By tapping into this market, Gigger, a multi­sided platform that allows for micro­task provision between small businesses and students, wants to leverage this current trend. This present studyattempts to examine the current digital labour landscape and its competitors, and whether or not the different target groups (small businesses and students) are willing to participate in the platform scheme that Gigger proposes. Specifically, the study tries to identify if there is demand for Gigger’s services for small businesses and if students are curious to explore unconventional methods of working such as freelancing. At first, the market analysis has shown a promising outlook on the establishment of Gigger’s platform service within the current digital labourmarket. Subsequently, following a qualitative approach, 20 semi­structured interviews were conducted. The insights gained from small businesses indicate a favourable direction that there is demand for Gigger’s services. On the other hand, while students have shown interest inpursuing other modes of working such as freelancing current tax regulations provide a major obstacle in to pursue such a path.

Date of Award	12 May 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)