Presenting Amazon's Mechanical Turk as more than just a data sample – A study of MTurker experiences

Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is an online crowdsourcing platform that is part of the digital gig economy, where MTurkers perform fast and repetitive gigs or microwork like taking surveys and performing data transcriptions, and are compensated for each completed task. The purpose of this research is to understand the work- and life-related implications for MTurkers. Drawing from the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), we examined the role that income and volition play in determining satisfaction and stress among MTurkers. Results revealed that high volition MTurkers had higher job satisfaction, higher life satisfaction, and lower stress than low volition MTurkers. These findings help extend PWT to this contemporary and evolving form of working in the digital gig economy. Management scholars view gig work as an emerging trend and an addition to the list of notable research and practice gaps in organisational behaviour.