Beyond Markets and Hierarchies? The Case of Upwork

Online platforms have emerged as a new locus in the organization of work in the twenty-first century. Unlike the explosive growth of ride-sharing platform Uber, the online freelancing platform Upwork has achieved much more modest success. This paper explores the dynamics of this new form of platform­-based employment and how can it be understood, or not, in terms of the classic accounts of the structure of economic life. In particular, I turn to Williamson’s theory of economic organization and Granovetter’s concept of embeddedness to elucidate the potentially novel elements of organization and governance that Upwork introduces. I argue the relatively muted success of Upwork can be explained by its attempt at technological circumvention and objectification of the social relations at play in economic life. Freelancers are required to make platform-specific investments in their own economic persona which are both costly and a poor replacement for the social relations that characterize firm and market-based economic life.