Collaborative activities and flexible working

Abstract

Digitalization and globalization have radically affected work organization and interaction between workers in the course of performing job duties. Co-creation activity on digital labour platforms is a new phenomenon that has been little studied. The paper aims to explore collaboration as a driving force in the evolution of work organization patterns and investigates its main effects on the labour market. Theory of cooperation and organizational theory constitute the methodological basis of the study. The research methods used are evolutionary analysis, statistical and regression analysis. The empirical evidence is comprised of open data from the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 10 (2020/23). The study identifies the directions for altering the forms of collaborative activities: the key ones are associated with the enhancement of individual value, accumulation of human capital and a rise in worker autonomy. It is shown that organization of work, which is also undergoing significant changes, promotes flexible working practices. The empirical analysis indicates that high-frequency Internet use among self-employed workers significantly increases the probability of engaging in co-creation activities, particularly as education levels rise. The growing intrinsic motivation of participants to such activities leads to higher labour productivity. The findings highlight a critical issue regarding the lack of human resource management practices in platform employment. Designing a new (flexible) model of work organization aligned with the characteristics and effects of co-creation activities can serve as a promising direction for further research.

Keywords

• work organization
• flexible work model
• self-employment
• co-creation activities
• digital technologies
• individual development