Mapping Global Research on the Gig Economy: A Scopus-Based Bibliometric Analysis of Trends, Themes, and Research Frontiers

Abstract

The gig economy has emerged as a significant transformation of contemporary work, driven by digital platforms, technological innovation, and changing employment arrangements. This study aims to map the development, intellectual structure, thematic patterns, and emerging research frontiers of global gig economy research. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using 2,811 documents indexed in Scopus for the period 2020–2027. The dataset was analyzed using VOSviewer to examine keyword co-occurrence and thematic relationships, complemented by descriptive analysis of subject areas, document types, and geographical distribution. The results demonstrate that gig economy research is highly interdisciplinary, with Social Sciences, Business, Management and Accounting, and Economics, Econometrics and Finance representing the dominant subject areas. The keyword analysis identifies gig economy, employment, gig work, workers, digital platforms, and platform work as central themes. The findings also reveal a notable shift from traditional concerns regarding employment relations, labor markets, contracts, and worker rights toward emerging issues including algorithmic management, automation, machine learning, worker autonomy, occupational health, mental health, and platform governance. The temporal analysis further indicates that recent research increasingly examines the intersection between technological control and worker well-being. Emerging research frontiers include algorithmic control, digital labor platforms, social protection, job autonomy, occupational risks, and gig work in the Global South. This study concludes that gig economy scholarship is evolving from an initial focus on flexible employment toward a broader understanding of algorithmically mediated work and the transformation of labor relations in the digital economy.