Platform Cooperativism: what is the extent to which online cooperative models address precarious labour among young platform workers?

Research questions:
How, if at all, precarious labour is addressed by cooperative platforms, compared to independent workers in cooperatives, and those on their own?
What is the incidence of precarious labour among the young within platform cooperatives?
How differently platform coops respond to the limitations of the platform economy towards its workforce?
What are the challenges for young workers in the platform cooperatives?
How could future research regarding labour in platform cooperatives be framed in order to generate adequate responses from academia?

This research will use an abductive strategy, by placing the participants at the centre of the study, incorporating their interpretations and motives in their work lives (Giddens cited in Blaikie, 2000). The aim is to find common meanings and identify the differences (Blaikie, 2000, p. 99) in their experiences towards Platform Cooperativism and the broader platform economy. This strategy aims to construct explanations based on the activities and views of social actors, to derive an understanding of their accounts towards the social interweaving within the networks they belong (Bourdieu, 1986; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992), i.e. a platform coop.

This study will use a diverse sampling method (Sampieri, et al., 2010), where interviews will follow a semi-structured oral history fashion (Blaikie, 2000, p. 207). This kind of interview will help to understand the perceptions of the participants, so the personal stories obtained from this method can be further subjected to analysis. It is a recurrent situation that former independent online workers join or get together to create their own platform coops - as per the "about" sections of their websites. Considering this, interview questions will examine their experiences as independent online workers compared to their experience in a cooperative platform.

The aim will be to explore their personal motives, expectations and opinions to cover themes such as precarious labour, work-life balance, job quality, working preferences and values. Drawing from the methodology carried out by Huws and colleagues (Huws, et al., 2017, pp. 55-56), in-depth interviews with platform workers revealed more personal intimate details. This will be key in understanding workers' accounts and experiences within platform coops.

Primary information collected from the interviews will be transcribed for a more thorough examination. To support data organisation and make the process less time-consuming, this research will make use of Nvivo (Sampieri, et al., 2010). The empirical evidence will be matched with the previous information collected. This will serve to test and refine the theories addressed throughout the literature review, as well as the hypotheses generated. Here, quantitative secondary data pertaining young workers and precarious employment within the platform economy will be relevant in supporting the overall investigation and further comparison. The results will be contrasted with previous work on Platform Cooperativism and the general platform economy. Following the analysis, the completion of the written project will draw from linking all data collected and answering the research questions, further leading to its conclusion.

After the collection of data generated from the interviews, a conference will be set to present the study results up until that point. The objective will be to receive feedback that could be useful for the analysis and quality of the research. Once the project is completed, findings will be shared among the network built through the interviewing process and the conference. Aligned with a cooperative spirit, the ultimate goal of this research will be to contribute towards the nascent academic field. This will derive in recommendations seeking fairer working conditions for those involved in the broader platform economy.