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This mixed-methods study explores the intersection of the 'gig' economy and welfare state in Australia, exploring how ride-share work has provided a pathway into paid work for three traditionally disadvantaged groups: individuals with disability, with caring responsibilities, or aged 45 and over. It examines these workers' motivations for the work and explores how the welfare system shapes their experiences. The study finds push factors, such as past labour market discrimination and limited alternatives, and pull factors, like the relative flexibility of the work, which allows for the accommodation of planned and unplanned absences, are driving individuals into the 'gig' economy. The authors identify a duality about these experiences. On the one hand, the work represents a de facto form of 'workfare'. On the other, the welfare system is cushioning the work's job and income insecurity, providing individuals with flexibility and security unavailable elsewhere, an unintended policy outcome the authors label 'accidental flexicurity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers play an integral role in the labor process of app‐based food delivery services through their consumption behaviors and performance ratings of workers. Some therefore see them as a potential ally of workers, whereas others view them as beholden by capital. This quantitative study uses power resource theory and a Rasch model to appraise consumers' understandings and attitudes toward working conditions in this segment of the "gig" economy. Drawing on two surveys of 1820 Australian consumers, we find that consumers are a potential yet heterogenous coalitional power resource who may align with workers on certain entitlements like minimum wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative industry case study evaluates job quality in the Australian platform-based food-delivery sector, one part of the growing gig economy where workers, as independent contractors, engage in digitally-enabled and controlled work that is remunerated on a piece rate basis. Using a multi-dimensional framework, we draw on worker accounts of economic security, autonomy and enjoyment to assess job quality. This study posits that to achieve a more refined picture of job quality, both objective and workers' subjective understandings of work need to be understood in the context of their respective 'fit' in terms of individual circumstances, labour market alternatives and the broader socio-political context. This multi-level analysis problematises individual accounts that risk overemphasising the positive elements of platform-based work. Moreover, rather than sitting neatly in a Post- or Neo-Fordist extension of job quality, the findings reveal that the gig economy is a new juncture in capitalist production, the consequences of which need to be taken seriously by regulators, scholars, workers and other relevant stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant progress has been made in the research on variations in HRM across national boundaries, in both the quantity of studies and theoretical advancements since the mid-1980s. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of existing literature on cross-country comparative studies of HRM as an important strand of the international HRM field in order to shed new light on dominant key concerns and themes, and emerging syntheses. More specifically, we conducted a systematic review of cross-country comparative HRM studies published in academic journals in the English language in the 15-year period of 2000–2014. Our paper charted the development of cross-country comparative studies of HRM as a sub-field of HRM research. Our analysis of 125 articles from 30 business and management journals shows the countries/regions that have been studied, topics, and research methods used. We also highlight a number of research avenues for further study in this field. Although there are a number of distinct strands to the literature, our study concludes that there is an emerging common ground in underlying concerns and theoretical assumptions both within the field, and with other areas of management inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]