Freelancers: A manager’s perspective on the phenomenon

. This work is set to explore the motivations of managers to hire freelancers and the boundary conditions for choosing freelancers for different positions within the organization. Past perceptions of freelancers as ‘gig workers’ who allow flexibility and cost saving to organizations are questioned. . 255 Israeli managers from different organizational sectors participated in two independent studies. In Study 1, managers’ perception of freelancers and main motivations for employing freelancers were measured for different job types and organizational roles. Study 2 aimed to deepen the understanding of the personal and professional attributes that managers look for when faced with the decision to employ a freelancer for an organizational task. Results indicate that knowledge and expertise were identified by managers as baseline criteria for hiring freelancers in all organizational roles. The leading personal characteristics managers look for when hiring freelancers were adjustability, adaptability and the ability to integrate . .