Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace

Kai Pan Mark; Joseph C.H. So; Victor C.W. Chan; Green W.T. Luk; Wai Tung Ho

doi:10.1109/TALE.2018.8615414

Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace

Kai Pan Mark
, Joseph C.H. So
, Victor C.W. Chan
, Green W.T. Luk
, Wai Tung Ho

Division of Science, Engineering and Health Studies (SEHS)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

New challenges and opportunities arise in the contemporary workplace. While less 'regular' employment is available, many working opportunities are of temporary and part-time natures. The 'gig economy' is increasingly popular in the recent years, emphasizing on creativity and innovation leading to new disruptive business models to the incumbents. Controversially, workers often have concurrent identities known as 'slash workers', e.g., employee (full time or part time)/freelance worker/self-employed/employer. This model is highly driven by online digital platforms. High technical competence is believed to be an asset to succeed in the gig economy. Our work examines the perception of STEM and non-STEM graduates on the key generic skills to succeed in the gig economy. Results indicate that gradates on both streams felt that entrepreneurship training in tertiary education was insufficient especially with the recent cohorts. Proficiency in IT skills as a competitive advantage, however, diminishes in the recent cohort.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018
Editors	Mark J.W. Lee, Sasha Nikolic, Montserrat Ros, Jun Shen, Leon C. U. Lei, Gary K.W. Wong, Neelakantam Venkatarayalu
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	1085-1090
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538665220
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE.2018.8615414
Publication status	Published - 2 Jul 2018
Event	2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018 - Wollongong, Australia Duration: 4 Dec 2018 → 7 Dec 2018

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018

Conference

Conference	2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Wollongong
Period	4/12/18 → 7/12/18

Keywords

digital communication
entrepreneurship
generic skills
gig economy
slash worker

Access to Document

10.1109/TALE.2018.8615414

Cite this

Mark, K. P., So, J. C. H., Chan, V. C. W., Luk, G. W. T., & Ho, W. T. (2018). Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace. In M. J. W. Lee, S. Nikolic, M. Ros, J. Shen, L. C. U. Lei, G. K. W. Wong, & N. Venkatarayalu (Eds.), Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018 (pp. 1085-1090). Article 8615414 (Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE.2018.8615414

Mark, Kai Pan ; So, Joseph C.H. ; Chan, Victor C.W. et al. / Surviving in the Gig Economy : Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace. Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018. editor / Mark J.W. Lee ; Sasha Nikolic ; Montserrat Ros ; Jun Shen ; Leon C. U. Lei ; Gary K.W. Wong ; Neelakantam Venkatarayalu. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2018. pp. 1085-1090 (Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018).

@inproceedings{9e1430dbc19949dc8d07b0a64a63d4b8,

title = "Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace",

abstract = "New challenges and opportunities arise in the contemporary workplace. While less 'regular' employment is available, many working opportunities are of temporary and part-time natures. The 'gig economy' is increasingly popular in the recent years, emphasizing on creativity and innovation leading to new disruptive business models to the incumbents. Controversially, workers often have concurrent identities known as 'slash workers', e.g., employee (full time or part time)/freelance worker/self-employed/employer. This model is highly driven by online digital platforms. High technical competence is believed to be an asset to succeed in the gig economy. Our work examines the perception of STEM and non-STEM graduates on the key generic skills to succeed in the gig economy. Results indicate that gradates on both streams felt that entrepreneurship training in tertiary education was insufficient especially with the recent cohorts. Proficiency in IT skills as a competitive advantage, however, diminishes in the recent cohort.",

keywords = "digital communication, entrepreneurship, generic skills, gig economy, slash worker",

author = "Mark, \{Kai Pan\} and So, \{Joseph C.H.\} and Chan, \{Victor C.W.\} and Luk, \{Green W.T.\} and Ho, \{Wai Tung\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 IEEE.; 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018 ; Conference date: 04-12-2018 Through 07-12-2018",

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Mark, KP, So, JCH, Chan, VCW, Luk, GWT & Ho, WT 2018, Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace. in MJW Lee, S Nikolic, M Ros, J Shen, LCU Lei, GKW Wong & N Venkatarayalu (eds), Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018., 8615414, Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 1085-1090, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018, Wollongong, Australia, 4/12/18. https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE.2018.8615414

Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace. / Mark, Kai Pan; So, Joseph C.H.; Chan, Victor C.W. et al.
Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018. ed. / Mark J.W. Lee; Sasha Nikolic; Montserrat Ros; Jun Shen; Leon C. U. Lei; Gary K.W. Wong; Neelakantam Venkatarayalu. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2018. p. 1085-1090 8615414 (Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Surviving in the Gig Economy

T2 - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018

AU - Mark, Kai Pan

AU - So, Joseph C.H.

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AU - Luk, Green W.T.

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AB - New challenges and opportunities arise in the contemporary workplace. While less 'regular' employment is available, many working opportunities are of temporary and part-time natures. The 'gig economy' is increasingly popular in the recent years, emphasizing on creativity and innovation leading to new disruptive business models to the incumbents. Controversially, workers often have concurrent identities known as 'slash workers', e.g., employee (full time or part time)/freelance worker/self-employed/employer. This model is highly driven by online digital platforms. High technical competence is believed to be an asset to succeed in the gig economy. Our work examines the perception of STEM and non-STEM graduates on the key generic skills to succeed in the gig economy. Results indicate that gradates on both streams felt that entrepreneurship training in tertiary education was insufficient especially with the recent cohorts. Proficiency in IT skills as a competitive advantage, however, diminishes in the recent cohort.

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Mark KP, So JCH, Chan VCW, Luk GWT, Ho WT. Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace. In Lee MJW, Nikolic S, Ros M, Shen J, Lei LCU, Wong GKW, Venkatarayalu N, editors, Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2018. p. 1085-1090. 8615414. (Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2018). doi: 10.1109/TALE.2018.8615414

Surviving in the Gig Economy: Change of STEM Students' Perceptions on the Generic Skills for the Workplace

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Keywords

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