Self-presentation and Success on Digital Platforms by the Example of Construction and Repair Workers

Abstract

Digital platforms form a highly competitive online environment where workers have to actively compete for projects and clients, using not only their professional knowledge and skills, but also special soft skills of self-presentation and self-organization in order to increase their chances of success. Our goal is to show how construction and repair workers present themselves on such platforms and how this self-presentation affects their success. Data were collected by web scraping on the Russian platform YouDo in 2023. The regression analysis results show that the focus of repairmen on professionalism and entrepreneurship is positively associated with the number of jobs they’ve completed. At the same time, we do not find evidence that platforms contribute to eroding the value of professionalism and replacing it with job proficiency, as H. Pongratz argues. People who focus on their proficiency do not get significant advantages compared to other workers.

Keywords

• gig economy
• online platforms
• self-employment
• self-presentation
• professionalism
• job proficiency
• entrepreneurial self