Abstract

This study examines the transformation of creative labor within the gig economy, focusing on the interconnected 
dimensions of wellbeing, identity formation, and collective organizing. The expansion of digital platforms has 
fundamentally reshaped creative work by introducing task modularization, algorithmic management, reputational 
systems, and data-driven surveillance. While gig work offers flexibility, autonomy, and expanded market access for 
creative professionals such as writers, designers, musicians, filmmakers, and digital artists, it simultaneously 
intensifies precarious working conditions characterized by income instability, long working hours, weak social 
protection, and blurred work-life boundaries. The study explores how these conditions affect the mental health and 
professional identities of creative workers, particularly in atypical and fragmented employment arrangements. It 
further investigates how workers negotiate self-expression, authenticity, and professional legitimacy within 
platform-mediated environments that reward visibility, ratings, and constant productivity. The research also 
analyses emerging forms of solidarity and collective action among creative gig workers, including digital activism, 
worker cooperatives, grassroots organizations, online communities, and platform-based alliances. Through 
comparative examples from Africa, Europe, and Asia, the study highlights both the challenges and innovative 
responses shaping contemporary creative labor. The findings demonstrate that despite the fragmentation and 
surveillance embedded in platform economies, creative workers continue to develop new forms of resistance, 
cooperation, and mutual support. The study concludes that sustainable creative labor in the gig economy requires 
stronger labour protections, transparent platform governance, enhanced social protections, and inclusive cultural 
policies capable of safeguarding workers’ wellbeing, autonomy, and collective rights in rapidly evolving digital 
environments.