England (Commonwealth Union) – Reviews often play a key role in decisions for consumers to make a purchase. They are meant to reflect customer experiences and recommendations. The significance of tech platforms has rearranged the entire set up of reviews in recent years with numerous reports of websites specializing in reviews, indirectly suggesting that businesses buy advertising or make payments to get a better rating. Negative reviews are often conducted by competitors as well, although it can be difficult to expose such activities.
As inflation keeps rising, many workers in the gig economy across the globe are struggling to keep up with online reviews. A new study has exposed how tech companies are compounding the problem, leaving many workers concerned about their future income.
The study was led by British researchers from the University of Bristol and University of Oxford, who analyzed the reputation systems of some the major gig economy tech players that make use of customer feedback for generating ratings. The study revealed that the algorithms – processes implemented to rank workers according to performance metrics were absent of transparency and extremely volatile. This has left workers vulnerable to malicious clients.
The study indicated that 7 in 10 gig economy freelancers working in remote globally for some of the biggest online platforms, engaging in a variety of work from data entry to website design, were concerned about clients giving unfair reviews and that may deprive them of their future income.
“This study is important as tech companies continue to rewire the social fabric of our lives and platform rating and reputation systems are becoming increasingly ubiquitous beyond the gig economy. Therefore, countering these processes of reputational insecurity will not only be an important policy endeavour for improving gig work but also the wider platform economy,” explained study co-author Vili Lehdonvirta, University of Oxford’s Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research.
