The Autonomy Paradox: How Night Work Undermines Subjective Well-Being of Internet-Based Freelancers

Andrey Shevchuk, Denis Strebkov and Shannon N. Davis

ILR Review, 2019, vol. 72, issue 1, 75-100

Abstract: Nonstandard work schedules have important consequences for workers in the new economy. Using unique data on the work times of Internet-based freelancers, specifically, self-employed professionals participating in a Russian-language online labor market ( N = 4,280), the authors find that working at night has adverse effects on workers’ subjective well-being as measured by satisfaction with work–life balance, life satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. Night work has differential effects on freelancers’ well-being based on gender, partnership status, and caregiving responsibilities. Highlighting the autonomy paradox, the authors’ findings document how freelancers’ discretionary application of a flexible schedule to work at night consequently undermines their well-being.

Keywords: nonstandard employment; freelancers; working time; flexible schedules; work–life balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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