Navigating human resource management in the gig economy: a bibliometric and interpretive literature review

Digitalization has profoundly transformed human resource management (HRM) practices, yet there is limited understanding of how and when these practices evolve within the gig economy. This study addresses this gap by employing a unique combination of bibliometric and interpretive analyses on 93 peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 and 2024. Following the PRISMA protocol, we utilized VOSviewer software for bibliometric analysis and conducted a systematic interpretive review to identify five interconnected thematic clusters: Digital Skills and Regional Educational Development, Platform Control and Worker Agency in the Gig Economy, Digital Economy and Urban-Rural Development, Platform-Based HRM Practice Evolution, and Digital Transformation of Personnel Management Systems. Our findings reveal that HRM in the gig economy has evolved through three distinct phases: basic digital tool adoption (2015–2017), algorithmic control systems (2018–2020), and hybrid human-algorithm approaches (2021–2024). These phases demonstrate how gig work challenges traditional HRM through algorithmic management and informal learning, while raising novel concerns about algorithmic control, career advancement, and privacy in decision-making. We conclude that sustainable platform-based HRM requires integrating technological capabilities with human-centered approaches, offering theoretical insights into HRM's evolution in the digital age and practical guidance for policymakers, gig platform managers, and HR professionals to balance efficiency and worker well-being.