Understanding How Leadership Can Help Reduce Occupational Stress Faced by Gig Economy Workers: Case Study of Ride Sharing Services in the US

Introduction: The paper analyzed the effects of leadership on occupational stress among employees in the US gig economy. It also examined how income stability, worker autonomy, and work environment impact occupational stress among gig workers. Methods: The study used a primary quantitative research design. A survey was conducted among a sample of 200 employees in the US gig economy. The survey instrument was the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), which used Likert scaling. The structured data were analyzed using the PLS-SEM approach in SmartPLS. Results: The study indicated a statistically significant relationship between occupational stress and Work Environment Support (β = 0.400, p < 0.001). Also, leadership Style is positively and significantly correlated with Occupational Stress (β = 0.202, p = 0.001). Income stability had a negligible effect on occupational stress (β = 0.1, p = 0.06). Worker Autonomy Interaction with Leadership Style on occupational stress is insignificant (β = 0.012, p = 0.820). The study similarly finds insignificant interactions between Worker Autonomy and Income Stability (β = 0.054, p = 0.203) and between Worker Autonomy and Work Environment Support (β = 0.046, p = 0.424). Conclusion: The findings of the study indicate that to decrease the occupational stress in the employees of the gig-economy, it is necessary to encourage the resource-strengthening leadership, provide better income stability and the platform environment. Since autonomy has proven to have no protective power by itself, leadership and management should combine flexibility with the practical assistance and communication improvement.