Freelancers: A manager’s perspective on the phenomenon

The current research is set to explore the motivations of managers to hire freelancers, a rapidly growing form of employment, and the boundary conditions for choosing freelancers for different positions and tasks within the organization. The main proposition is that managers today consider freelancers as agents that bring valuable knowledge and expertise into the organization from outside. To that end, 255 Israeli managers from different organizational sectors participated in two consecutive studies. In Study 1, managers’ perceptions of freelancers and main motivations for employing freelancers were quantitatively measured against different job types and organizational roles. Study 2 aimed to deepen the understanding of the personal and professional attributes that managers look for in freelancer employment, using a qualitative approach. Implications of the changing nature of employment arrangements as a strategic HRM activity in a complex and unstable business environment are discussed.