‘The future’s bright, the future’s mobile’: a study of Apple and Google mobile application developers

Bergvall-Kåreborn, Birgitta; Howcroft, Debra

doi:10.1177/0950017012474709

Cited by 80 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The extension of the ‘entreployee’ framework by Pongratz () to wider entrepreneurial functions means that the conceptualisation is particularly useful for analysing digital gaming, given the wider context of changing market structures, the increasingly competitive environment and the political climate which encourages entrepreneurial activity. Research by Haunschild and Eikhof () and Bergvall‐Kåreborn and Howcroft () has used the characterisation of the ‘entreployee’ to illustrate how workers have taken on entrepreneurial functions in challenging labour market conditions. This article will add to this body of research by examining the relationship between the labour market and entrepreneurialism/enterprise within the digital games sector.…”

Section: The Cultural Entrepreneurmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's all about games: enterprise and entrepreneurialism in digital games

Wright¹

2015

New Technol Work Employ

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This article aims to contrast benign notions of 'free' and 'creative' work in the context of labour market conditions and employment relationships. Empirical research reveals the exploitative and precarious nature of work in the experiences of self-employed digital game developers and charts the responses of developers to unstable and insecure working conditions. Building on work by Pongratz and Voß (2003), Haunschild and Eikhof (2009), and Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft (2013), this study finds that a typical response to increasing instability in the labour market is to adopt more enterprising and entrepreneurial behaviour in order to find work. This article illustrates the consequences for developers by highlighting examples of self-exploitation, which is fuelled by a passion for work and is where entrepreneurial practices lead to long working hours, unpaid work and a blurring of work-life boundaries.

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Section: The Cultural Entrepreneurmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's all about games: enterprise and entrepreneurialism in digital games

Wright¹

2015

New Technol Work Employ

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“…First, as noted earlier in this paper, structural change in the IT sector has redefined how employment is managed for many, whereby responsibility for employment and professional development increasingly rests with individuals, leading to a subsequent increase in portfolio careers. While this has been reported extensively in the employment literature in recent years (e.g., Baldry, et al 2007;Marks and Huzzard, 2010;Bergvall-Kareborn and Howcroft, 2011), it is also beginning to emerge in the entrepreneurship literature:…”

Section: Entrepreneurshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conversely, Bergvall-Kareborn and Howcroft (2011) claim that the value and employment potential of the IT industry is hyperbole. At the same time, there is some evidence that the landscape for the IT industry is changing; in the UK specifically, Marks and Huzzard (2010) find a reduction in foreign direct investment (FDI) of global players and a corresponding increase in small independent firms.…”

Section: Employment In the Uk It Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of internships to foster employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship in the IT sector

Galloway

Marks

Chillas

2014

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development

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Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Developmentother concepts such as entrepreneurship, tacit skills and generic skills. There is little doubt though that all of these involve applied competencies that can be related to the world of work. As such, there is much rhetoric about the usefulness of workplace experience, based on the now well-established identification of experiential learning as the most effective means by which (particularly applied) skills are developed (Laurillard, 1993;Miller, 2002). In industries such as IT, a capable, creative and enterprising personnel base are said to be critical to organisational and sectoral development since these foster the potential for innovation and opportunity (Ratcliffe, 2009). For these reasons, and their potential in terms of economic development and national competitiveness in global industries, governments also are keen to encourage, and often support, work placements for students to improve employability and enterprise in technology sectors (e.g., BIS, 2011 in the UK).The current paper reports a study of the usefulness of work placements for IT students and for employers in the IT sector in the UK. Within a qualitative methodological framework, using both surveys and interviews, the study presents findings about how placements are perceived from students' perspectives and from the perspectives of employers. The paper commences with a review of the literature on employment in the IT industry, followed by a discussion of employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship and their role in the IT sector. Following an explanation of the methodology used for the empirical study, findings relating to three research questions are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion on implications for

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“…36 This increased complexity brought about by mobility also affects contemporary practices and notions of work and work organization. Our study suggests that pronounced professional mobility, in combination with strong performance pressures, dynamic professional boundaries and uncertainty regarding the development of careers, tends to result in an extension of work to the point where it colonises the personal life (see also Bergvall-Kareborn and Howcroft, 2013) Subsequently, it becomes increasingly unclear and uncertain how, where, with or by whom work is organized (Haunschild, 2003).…”

Section: Implications Of the Mobile Middle For Careers Work And Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, critical MOS scholars exploring precarity in contemporary worlds of work develop their argumentation based on a conception of mobility as a necessity (e.g. Bergvall-Kareborn and Howcroft, 2013;Garsten, 2008).…”

Section: The Complex Nexus Of Mobility Work and Careersmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Moving to stay in the same place?’ Academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the ‘mobile middle’

Loacker

Śliwa

2016

Organization

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This paper provides insights into mobility in the context of geographical, economic, professional, temporal and imaginary movements of academics and theatrical artists.It explores how these dimensions of mobility intersect in the narratives of academics and theatrical artists, thereby producing a position 'in between' choice and necessity, and privilege and disadvantage with regard to movement. The analysis shows how both academics and theatrical artists engage in mobility to secure, maintain or improve their professional and economic position. On this basis, we suggest that they are part of an emerging category of professionals: the 'mobile middle', for whom mobility is a crucial part and principle of life. We argue that the phenomenon of the 'mobile middle' and mobility in general have wide-ranging implications for our understanding of contemporary careers, work and life organization.

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‘The future’s bright, the future’s mobile’: a study of Apple and Google mobile application developers

Cited by 80 publications

References 35 publications

It's all about games: enterprise and entrepreneurialism in digital games

It's all about games: enterprise and entrepreneurialism in digital games

The use of internships to foster employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship in the IT sector

‘Moving to stay in the same place?’ Academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the ‘mobile middle’

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