The DOI matches its Crossref record; 26 of the 26 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Competition in online job marketplaces: towards a global labour market for outsourcing services?
Abstract
Abstract A new form of service outsourcing has emerged, namely the global online job marketplace for freelance contractors. Such platforms are currently the closest proxy to the idea of a global labour market where everyone competes for jobs regardless of location. In this article, we examine how competition manifests itself on one such global online platform, namely oDesk. We present a comparative analysis of the relative wages and the rewarding of skills and expertise of contractors from selected countries and investigate whether, via labour arbitrage, wage convergence takes place between Western and developing countries. We find that wage convergence is noticeable but experience and skills hardly translate into better remuneration. While service outsourcing (or microwork) via global online marketplaces provides new employment opportunities for freelancers around the world, the intense competition and the inherent restrictions of this type of marketplace limit the financial gains for most contractors.
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Cites
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Cited by
Arruda, H., Silva, E. R., Lessa, M., Proença Jr., D., & Bartholo, R. (2022) · Journal of the Medical Library Association · doi:10.5195/jmla.2022.1434 · Cited by 794
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Digital platforms and institutional voids in developing countries: The case of ride-hailing markets
Heeks, R., Gomez-Morantes, J. E., Graham, M., Howson, K., Mungai, P., Nicholson, B., & Van Belle, J.-P. (2021) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105528 · Cited by 157
Metadata
- Authors
- BEEREPOOT, N., & LAMBREGTS, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Kasetsart University (TH)
- Corresponding author
- BEEREPOOT, NIELS
- ORCID
- BEEREPOOT, NIELS
- Venue
- Global Networks
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-03-31
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 236-255
- ISSN
- 1470-2266 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0374
- OpenAlex
- W2117337595
- Cited by
- 154
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 6
- FWCI
- 16.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Global Networks (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Economy and Work Transformation
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Labor Dynamics
- Keywords
- service outsourcing, microwork, global labor market, wage convergence, relative wages, cross-border competition, developing countries
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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