Virtual teams in a gig economy.
rct · Level II
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36525536.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.2206580119 and PMC identifier 9907148.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
While the gig economy provides flexible jobs for millions of workers globally, a lack of organization identity and coworker bonds contributes to their low engagement and high attrition rates. To test the impact of virtual teams on worker productivity and retention, we conduct a field experiment with 27,790 drivers on a ride-sharing platform. We organize drivers into teams that are randomly assigned to receiving their team ranking, or individual ranking within their team, or individual performance information (control). We find that treated drivers work longer hours and generate significantly higher revenue. Furthermore, drivers in the team-ranking treatment continue to be more engaged 3 mo after the end of the experiment. A machine-learning analysis of 149 team contests in 86 cities suggests that social comparison, driver experience, and within-team similarity are the key predictors of the virtual team efficacy.