Bad Client Feedback on Digital Labor Platforms: How Freelancers Navigate the Peril Posed by Negative Reviews on Upwork

Abstract

Freelancing on digital labor platforms is becoming an increasingly important source of income for workers. As self-employed professionals, freelancers rely on positive reviews to attract new jobs and new clients. Previous positive reviews help to reduce uncertainty about freelancers' ability to deliver their services. However, research to date has primarily examined positive reviews, but not how negative reviews affect freelancers' success nor what strategies freelancers use to navigate negative reviews. This is especially important because we know that negative reviews on other platforms undermine vendor sales. To identify strategies that freelancers use to overcome negative reviews, we conducted a qualitative fuzzy set analysis of 1,712 freelancer profiles. Thus, we show how sets of communication skills, collaboration skills, and sharing complete information influence freelancers' success. In the presence of negative ratings, we identify five pathways and six conditions that predict freelancer success on digital labor platforms.