Syracuse University professor wins $52K NSF grant to study workers in the gig economy

SYRACUSE — A Syracuse University professor was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how people pursue work in the gig economy, and what challenges they need to overcome to be successful.

School of Information Studies (iSchool) faculty member Steven Sawyer won an NSF grant of more than $52,000 through the foundation’s EAGER (EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) program, Syracuse University said in a recent news release posted on its website. EAGER grants fund researchers’ exploratory work in early stages on “untested but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches.”

Sawyer’s research will especially focus on “understanding how workers from disadvantaged backgrounds are prepared to participate in this quickly growing arena.”

Common gig-economy jobs include driving for ridesharing companies Uber or Lyft, doing programming work on the freelance marketplace Fiverr, and handling data-entry tasks on the Mechanical Turk digital-worker platform. Others earn money by selling products and services in an online marketplace or by renting out their properties on a home-sharing site such as AirBnB or onefinestay. 

Altogether, 24 percent of American adults made money last year participating in the various online marketplace and gig-work platforms, per the Syracuse release.

“While we know that gig-based jobs are growing in popularity for workers across the spectrum, we don’t have a great understanding of what it takes to be a worker in this kind of environment, especially among disadvantaged populations,” said Sawyer. “Our goal is to understand, in greater depth, what will be needed to make this kind of work successful, and to identify the particular challenges and needs of workers who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as single parents or rural workers, for example.”

Sawyer and his research team plan to study how these gig workers obtain and organize their resources, how they use digital tools and services, and where they work.

“These workers often work outside of typical office settings. Their workspaces include coffee shops, libraries, co-working centers and other on-the-go places,” he said. “Some have routine circuits of travel and can rely on co-working spaces, while some are more nomadic. Either way, they must organize and reconfigure their work resources, creating ‘mobile offices’ that provide cognitive space, physical space, communications and direct work resources.”

A second goal of Sawyer’s work will be to to develop better methods for collecting data on gig workers, and how to understand the alternative uses of the digital platforms, applications, and devices that these workers utilize. He said he hopes his work contributes to “policies and programs focused on educating, training and preparing a more digitally-enabled workforce of the future as it is clear that these new digital platforms and gig-work opportunities are only going to get more popular as their adoption steadily increases.”

SYRACUSE — A Syracuse University professor was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how people pursue work in the gig economy, and what challenges they need to overcome to be successful.

School of Information Studies (iSchool) faculty member Steven Sawyer won an NSF grant of more than $52,000 through the foundation’s EAGER (EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) program, Syracuse University said in a recent news release posted on its website. EAGER grants fund researchers’ exploratory work in early stages on “untested but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches.”

Sawyer’s research will especially focus on “understanding how workers from disadvantaged backgrounds are prepared to participate in this quickly growing arena.”

Common gig-economy jobs include driving for ridesharing companies Uber or Lyft, doing programming work on the freelance marketplace Fiverr, and handling data-entry tasks on the Mechanical Turk digital-worker platform. Others earn money by selling products and services in an online marketplace or by renting out their properties on a home-sharing site such as AirBnB or onefinestay. 

Altogether, 24 percent of American adults made money last year participating in the various online marketplace and gig-work platforms, per the Syracuse release.

“While we know that gig-based jobs are growing in popularity for workers across the spectrum, we don’t have a great understanding of what it takes to be a worker in this kind of environment, especially among disadvantaged populations,” said Sawyer. “Our goal is to understand, in greater depth, what will be needed to make this kind of work successful, and to identify the particular challenges and needs of workers who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as single parents or rural workers, for example.”

Sawyer and his research team plan to study how these gig workers obtain and organize their resources, how they use digital tools and services, and where they work.

“These workers often work outside of typical office settings. Their workspaces include coffee shops, libraries, co-working centers and other on-the-go places,” he said. “Some have routine circuits of travel and can rely on co-working spaces, while some are more nomadic. Either way, they must organize and reconfigure their work resources, creating ‘mobile offices’ that provide cognitive space, physical space, communications and direct work resources.”

A second goal of Sawyer’s work will be to to develop better methods for collecting data on gig workers, and how to understand the alternative uses of the digital platforms, applications, and devices that these workers utilize. He said he hopes his work contributes to “policies and programs focused on educating, training and preparing a more digitally-enabled workforce of the future as it is clear that these new digital platforms and gig-work opportunities are only going to get more popular as their adoption steadily increases.”