Decent Digital Work: Technology Affordances and Constraints

Much contemporary work, from knowledge to ‘gig’ work, is now digital. While digital work can be flexible and fun, it is not always ‘decent’ according to the United Nations development goal. The increased use of digital technology has the potential to both facilitate and threaten decent work; however, to date no systematic assessment exists of its impact for different types of digital workers. In this research-in-progress paper, we propose a theoretical framework differentiating four types of digital workers: Gig Worker, Digital Nomad, Nine to Fiver, and Travelling Elite. We illustrate the work-life of each with a vignette and discuss how technology can enable and constrain decent work. We propose a research design based on the diary method to outline how the role of ICTs in decent work can be studied empirically, laying the foundation for better work design in the future.