Content Creation in the Digital Economy: A Comprehensive Exploration and Investigation of Work Environment and Content Creators’ Behaviours

Abstract

With the emergence and rapid spread of digital technologies, the world is undergoing a profound transformation. The digital economy that has evolved as a result has fundamentally changed and impacted every aspect of society and business, and it will undoubtedly change and reshape employment and work from various perspectives as well. Flexibility and autonomy have always been the strong attraction that the digital economy provides to workers, but behind this hidden truth is the strict control of platforms and algorithms. This thesis seeks to further deepen the understanding of working in the digital economy through a series of studies ranging from the broad to the specific, especially on the work of a particular group of content creators.
This thesis contains four studies. Study 1 is a review paper that attempts to clarify the distinction between different concepts from the digital economy on a macro level. Studies 2-4 turn the perspective to a particular group of workers in the digital economy, the content creators. Study 2 uses two quantitative studies to theorise the characteristics of working on content creative platforms by developing a typology of these platforms. The third study was a systematic review to explore the power imbalance between platform algorithms and creators in content creative platforms. The fourth study employs a quantitative study that explores the impact of the platform work environment on the creators' behaviour from an individual perspective. This series of studies makes important theoretical contributions to the field related to employment relations in the digital economy context, especially content creative platforms, from both macro and micro perspectives. In addition, this series of studies provides practical implications for content creators, platforms and policymakers.