Nicolai Jepsen is a PhD fellow at Copenhagen Business School. His project takes its point of departure in the Uberization of the service sector, following the Great Recession of 2008, which gave rise to the gig economy. Situated between micro-entrepreneurship and traditional temp work, the gig economy is a labor market characterized by algorithmically managed piecework mediated by online platforms. With phrases like “be your own boss” and “work when you decide” scrawled across recruitment posters, labor platforms evoke ideals of entrepreneurialism. However, while early proponents of platform work promised entrepreneurial opportunities for the masses through labor autonomy and flexibility, the reality appears less rosy.



Nicolai’s research aims to understand how leading actors within the gig economy mobilize and politicize the semantic field of entrepreneurship to attract gig workers and how this affects the self-narratives and work-life expectations of people engaged in gig work. Before starting his PhD, Nicolai received his master’s degree in Organizational Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Copenhagen Business School. He worked as a student assistant during his studies at the Department of Business Humanities and Law.