eLancing the Future Work Model: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Work is not just central to how we contribute to and participate in the society, but also a powerful mechanism for economic inclusion and social identification. Artificial intelligence and the internet of things have been linked to digitalization and the 4th industrial revolution. However, it is about us “humans”-the way we live, learn, earn, and play. The future of work is all about pliability and ability to reinvent oneself. The orthodox archetype of having a stable lifetime job is eroding, and is being replaced by more flexible short-term precarious work arrangement, electronic lancing (eLancing). eLancing also represents the resurrection of dead capital, the comatose human capital in the context of the World Wide Web's genealogy. Our values, norms, cultural institutions, and educational systems were designed to create traditional workers. eLancing has the propensity to alter the traditional work perceptions, norms, institutions and regulations. This chapter describes eLancing and other hybrid work models; challenges, opportunities and implications of eLancing are discussed.