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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Digital Economy and Work Transformation

Digital Economy and Work Transformation is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1950. 10.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of the gig economy and digital labor platforms on the labor market, highlighting issues such as worker precarity, algorithmic control, and labor market flexibility. It delves into the exploitation of platform workers and the transformation of traditional labor markets by online freelancing and platform capitalism.

  • Gig Economy
  • Digital Labor Platforms
  • Algorithmic Control
  • Worker Precarity
  • Platform Capitalism
  • Labor Market Flexibility
  • Online Freelancing
  • Worker Exploitation
  • Labor Market Transformation
  • Platform Workers
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+53%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Digital Economy and Work Transformation

Which countries lead Digital Economy and Work Transformation research?

By volume, the United States and Brazil publish the most (1.2k and 689 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.2k works
  2. 2 Brazil 689 works
  3. 3 China 679 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 632 works
  5. 5 India 583 works
  6. 6 Germany 442 works
  7. 7 France 364 works
  8. 8 Italy 287 works
  9. 9 Australia 279 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 252 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 22.9%Brazil: 12.6%China: 12.4%United Kingdom: 11.6%6 others listed: 40.5%23%largest
United States1,248 · 22.9%Brazil689 · 12.6%China679 · 12.4%United Kingdom632 · 11.6%6 others listed2,208 · 40.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Digital Economy and Work Transformation research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Digital Economy and Work Transformation research, followed by University of Oxford and Sapienza University of Rome.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 97 works
  2. 2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 43 works
  3. 3 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 38 works
  4. 4 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 35 works
  5. 5 University of TorontoCanada 35 works
  6. 6 The University of MelbourneAustralia 31 works
  7. 7 The University of SydneyAustralia 30 works
  8. 8 Cornell UniversityUnited States 29 works
  9. 9 Copenhagen Business SchoolDenmark 29 works
  10. 10 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 29 works

Who are the leading researchers in Digital Economy and Work Transformation?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Digital Economy and Work Transformation include Paul M. Thompson, Arnold B. Bakker and Steve J McDonald.

  1. 1 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  2. 2 Arnold B. Bakker Netherlands 189k citations
  3. 3 Steve J McDonald Australia 172k citations
  4. 4 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  5. 5 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Digital Economy and Work Transformation?

The most cited paper in Digital Economy and Work Transformation is "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation" (David Autor, 2015), with 3,836 citations. Next come "The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption" (3,320) and "In The Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power." (3,305).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation David Autor · The Journal of Economic Perspectives Open access 30 Jul 2015 3,836
2 The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption Juho Hamari, Mimmi Sjöklint, Antti Ukkonen · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 2 Jun 2015 3,320
3 In The Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. Carmen J. Sirianni, Shoshana Zuboff · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews Sep 1989 3,305
4 You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online Russell W. Belk · Journal of Business Research 16 Oct 2013 2,952
5 Algorithms at Work: The New Contested Terrain of Control Katherine C. Kellogg, Melissa Valentine, Angèle Christin · Academy of Management Annals 21 Nov 2019 2,497
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Digital Economy and Work Transformation research done?

The largest centres of Digital Economy and Work Transformation research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Paris (France) and São Paulo (Brazil).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 151 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 126 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 120 works
  4. 4 São PauloBrazil 107 works
  5. 5 New YorkUnited States 91 works
  6. 6 MoscowRussia 91 works
  7. 7 MelbourneAustralia 79 works
  8. 8 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 72 works
  9. 9 TorontoCanada 69 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 68 works
See Digital Economy and Work Transformation on the map

Where is the best place to study Digital Economy and Work Transformation?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, University of Oxford and University of Toronto score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 27.14%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Amster…University of OxfordUniversity of TorontoThe University of Me…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of AmsterdamNetherlands 76.328.2%7.8×35 +169.9%
2University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 71.925.3%4.0×43 +6.7%
3University of TorontoCanada 66.022.6%2.3×35 +15.4%
4The University of MelbourneAustralia 62.918.8%3.7×31 +48.5%
5Cornell UniversityUnited States 61.822.5%3.0×29 +30.6%
6University College CorkIreland 61.344.4%3.5×8 +205.5%
7Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 61.246.5%1.3×8 +65.2%
8University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 60.622.6%2.3×21 +33.6%
9University of LeedsUnited Kingdom 59.725.1%3.9×17 +114.4%
10London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 59.515.4%11.8×21 +36.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Digital Economy and Work Transformation, country by country

Is Digital Economy and Work Transformation research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 53% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Digital Economy and Work Transformation.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Digital Economy and Work Transformation as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.036% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Digital Economy and Work Transformation0.040% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Digital Economy and Work Transformation over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Digital Economy and Work Transformation10.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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