MOONLIGHT
Moonlighting: Understanding the quality and consequences of working multiple jobs
Wieteke Conen
ERC Starting Grant 2023
Moonlighting: Understanding the quality and consequences of working multiple jobs (MOONLIGHT - ERC project)
The project studies the quality of work and wellbeing of contemporary multiple jobholders. Working in the new economy is increasingly of a flexible and fragmented nature. Multiple jobholders [MJHs], or so-called moonlighters, can be considered emblematic of how work fragmentation and combinations affect the quality of work and total worker wellbeing. MOONLIGHT researches the quality of work in first, second and other jobs and how this translates into total worker wellbeing. We study MJHs through comparative research in seven advanced economies: Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States - countries with increasing levels of MJHs, but different welfare state traditions, regulations and norms. The research relies on new comparative cross-national and dynamic data. A unique and crucial feature of the programme’s empirical approach is the development of an app for dynamic quality and wellbeing assessment.
The MOONLIGHT project is funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant of €2.1 million to Wieteke Conen for 5 years from 2024 (Grant No. 101117716).
Objectives and research problem
The aims of this research programme are to introduce an interpretative framework for quality and total worker wellbeing and to understand the consequences of working multiple jobs. The general research problem comprises three questions:
(1) How are the quality and wellbeing at work of MJHs conceptualised, classified and measured, and how can we arrive at a holistic interpretative framework of total worker wellbeing?
(2) How can we explain differences in the quality of work and total worker wellbeing in terms of the characteristics of the individual (micro-level), the industry and organisation (meso-level) and the institutional context (macro-level), as well as the interaction between these levels?
(3) How stable or dynamic are different dimensions of quality and total worker wellbeing across time, for instance in terms of income and intensity, and total wellbeing? What are the positive and negative consequences for workers of combining multiple jobs, also measured over a longer period of time?
Methodology
The research relies on new comparative cross-national and dynamic data from seven advanced economies: Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Comparative cross-national survey research is conducted to investigate the quality of work in first, second and other jobs in relation to total worker wellbeing, as well as the impact of the meso and macro context (research problems 1 and 2).
The team develops, together with an app developer, an app for dynamic prevalence and quality assessment: respondents participate via an app and answer questions about their work regularly over the course of a year. A group of 150 MJHs per country is recruited to participate in the longitudinal, dynamic app research via the respondents’ mobile phones (usable on iOS and Android via a web application). This approach reveals more about the dynamics in quality of work and wellbeing at work (research problems 2 and 3).
Lessons learned are included in the (repeated) survey in year 4 (research problems 1, 2 and 3).
Research team
MOONLIGHT is conducted by the PI, two PhD students, one postdoc and three research assistants. The team is based at research institute AIAS-HSI of the University of Amsterdam. The project is organised along four project lines: project 1 focuses on methodology and meso-level and macro-level context (postdoc); project 2 on precarious MJHs (PhD 1), project 3 on career pathways (PhD 2); and project 4 on the theoretical development and conceptualisation, as well as the design of the survey and research, and is concerned with integrating the outcomes from projects 1,2 and 3 (PI).
Project 1: Multiple jobholders in context
The position for a postdoctoral researcher offers a unique opportunity to delve into the meso- and macro-level factors shaping MJH behaviour and outcomes. Concerning the impact of the industry and organisations (meso-level), we aim to investigate how organizational characteristics influence workers' decisions to engage in multiple jobs, considering both constraint and opportunity hypotheses. Additionally, we seek to explore the role of the operational environment and competition in shaping MJH behaviours. At the macro level, our inquiry extends to national-level regulations and work ethics, examining how these factors influence individuals' choices to pursue multiple jobs (instead of – for instance - relying on social assistance). Furthermore, we are interested in understanding whether MJHs receive comparable employment conditions and social protections to single jobholders, or if they are adversely affected by the fragmented nature of their employment. The postdoctoral researcher will play a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the meso- and macro-level determinants affecting the quality of work and wellbeing among MJHs.
The project takes an ambitious multi-method approach, including desk research, qualitative research, comparative cross-national survey research and the development of an app for dynamic prevalence and quality assessment. The postdoctoral researcher assists the principal investigator in organising the data collection.
Project 2: Dire straits
The second project will research precarious forms of moonlighting in seven advanced economies.
Research questions include: How can we classify MJHs and who are doing ‘bad jobs’? Who are the MJHs combining ‘bad jobs’ (micro, meso and macro factors)? How static or dynamic are dimensions of quality and total worker wellbeing across time? Project 2 will take a multi-method approach. The PhD will start with a literature review on precarious forms of multiple jobholding, and integrate labour law analysis and policy analysis (see project 1) in his or her initial chapters of the dissertation. The empirical chapters will be based on analyses of the survey data (first wave) and will investigate the measurement and classification of precarious forms of multiple jobholding, quality of work in 1st, 2nd and other jobs on different dimensions among precarious MJHs, and the relation with their contexts. The final empirical chapter will be based on analyses of the dynamic app data and analyses the stability or dynamics of the quality and total worker wellbeing among precarious MJHs. This project is strongly connected to research problem 2 and 3.
Project 3: Career pathways
The third project will research all groups of MJHs in seven advanced economies and focuses on transitions, career development and wellbeing.
Research questions include: How do meso-level factors (industries, competition, organisations) affect workers’ behaviour to start working multiple jobs (both from the deprivation and energic hypothesis)? How do organisations enhance or deteriorate the quality of work and wellbeing of MJHs? Under what conditions do MJHs develop skills that can be transferred between jobs? How does human capital accumulation in one or more of the jobs affect later working life? Project 3 will also take a multi-method approach. The PhD will start with a literature review on human capital accumulation and skills diversification among MJHs, and integrate policy analysis (see project 1) in his or her initial chapters of the dissertation. The empirical chapters will be based on analyses of the survey data (first wave) on getting to a classification of quality of work and wellbeing among MJHs and the influence of meso-level factors on prevalence, quality and wellbeing. The final empirical chapter will be based on analyses of the dynamic app data and analyses the embeddedness of multiple jobholding. This project is strongly connected to research problem 2 and 3.
Project 4: Quality of work and total worker wellbeing among MJH
Project four will be the ‘backbone’ of the programme and has a theoretical and future-oriented aim, namely integrating the various outcomes in order to construct a framework and roadmap for studying total worker wellbeing.
Research questions include: How is quality of work and wellbeing at work conceptualised, classified and measured in the literature? How can we translate the conceptualisations and findings into a validated scale to measure total worker wellbeing (extensive and short version)? How stable or dynamic are dimensions of quality and total worker wellbeing across time? Her preparatory work in the initial phase of the project will help project 1,2 and 3 to jumpstart their projects. This project is most strongly connected to research problem 1 and 3. During the whole period the PI will work on articles, together with the PhD students and postdoc as well on the overarching study from project 4.