Community as an opportunity: how online social support seeking as a response to daily demands facilitates gig workers’ engagement and performance

Work in the gig economy differs from standard employment due to the absence of organizational structures that typically enable relationships and social support among co-workers. Thus, we examine whether seeking social support on informal online platforms helps gig workers cope with the emotionally challenging and cognitively demanding nature of their work. Drawing on coping theory, we propose that gig workers may engage in community-focused emotion- and problem-focused coping by seeking emotional and instrumental support on informal online platforms. These behaviours represent relational support management tactics that differentially enable gig workers to sustain functioning, manifesting as work engagement, citizenship behaviours, and monetary performance. We test this model across three studies. Study 1 (N = 102) develops measures of social support seeking and gig work citizenship behaviours using qualitative insights and quantitative scale validation. Study 2 (N = 180), a one-day three-time lagged survey, provides between-person evidence positively linking demands, support seeking, engagement, and citizenship. Study 3 (N = 100), a 10-day experience sampling study, examines the full model, including monetary performance, at the within-person level (daily) and between-person level (across two weeks). Our findings position informal communities as a vital resource for sustaining motivation, community, and income in gig work settings.