Six Thinking Hats Approach on Gig Economy: A Tridimensional Perspective

Abstract

The world has witnessed three industrial revolutions so far (Rifkin, 2011). Employment today has shifted from being a lifetime contract to a taxicab relationship in four phases; Employment 1.0 (the industrial revolution), Employment 2.0 (the rise of trade unions and employment legislation) and Employment 3.0 (globalization, outsourcing, technology substitution of labour, and the decline of trade unions) and 4.0 (gig economy). The fragmentation of work has led to the emergence of the “gig economyâ€, which is heralded as the fourth industrial revolution (Schwab, 2017; Horowitz 2011). The gig economy consists of markets where independent consultants, contractors, and freelancers put up their portfolios and work with companies on short-term contracts. Collectively referred to as the collaborative, sharing, or gig economy, businesses of this type are anticipated to comprise a substantial portion of the economy in the coming years with serious economic implications(Sundararajan 2014), including the disruption of long-standing industries (Morse 2015) and the displacement of incumbents (Zervas et al. 2015). This paper attempts to study Gig economy in Indian context from tridimensional perspective; the gig economy (Government), the employer and the gig worker. For holistic understanding of the topic, a six thinking hats approach is adopted.