An Exploration of Instability: The Association of Fluctuating Conditions in Microwork with Workers' Daily Well‑Being through Basic Need Satisfaction

The continuously expanding literature on microwork and online data labelling work documents the challenging nature and precarious working conditions of this work. Workers have to constantly adapt to the changing availability of tasks, new platform features, and volatile treatment by requesters, posing a considerable strain on workers' psychological well-being. Although working conditions in microwork are often described as unstable, most studies use cross-sectional or qualitative designs, which cannot fully capture the fluctuating nature of microwork. This study, therefore, employs a daily diary design to examine changing working conditions in microwork across the week. We draw on Self-Determination Theory and expect that daily fluctuations in working conditions affect workers' psychological and psychosomatic well-being mediated through the satisfaction of their basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

We conducted an 8-day daily diary study among 193 microworkers in the EU. For 8 consecutive days, participants received a diary survey comprising measures of the experienced working conditions on microworking platforms, basic need satisfaction, psychological, and psychosomatic well-being. Participants were asked to only respond on days when they worked on microworking platforms. Workers receive compensation of €3.5 per survey based on the Dutch minimum wage. Responses of 166 participants were included for analysis, resulting in a sample of 912 observations. Data were analyzed in a two-level structural equation model, with repeated measures being nested within participants. We report the model's path coefficients and indirect associations.

We find that the volume of available tasks, the functionality of interfaces, and the treatment of workers fluctuate significantly across days. On a given day, these working conditions were positively associated with workers' psychological well-being (B = .09 - .12; p < .01). Further, the volume of available tasks was negatively associated with psychological distress and psychosomatic symptoms (Bpsydis = -.04; p < .05; Bpsysom = -.03; p < .05). Indirect associations confirmed that on the daily level the volume of available tasks was associated with psychological well-being through autonomy (B = .01; p < .01), functionality of interfaces were mediated by competence (B = .05; p < .01), and treatment of workers was mediated by relatedness (B = .03; p < .01). These findings highlight the instability of working conditions in microwork, partially emerging from platform design. This instability dynamically shapes workers' well-being from day to day, showcasing diary studies as a valuable tool in unraveling how instability impacts workers' well-being.