Who are you? Inconsistent identity reporting in online labor markets
ISSN: 1030-9616
Article publication date: 25 April 2020
Issue publication date: 15 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Online labor pools continue to grow in popularity, serving as an inexpensive, readily available source of research data. Despite early skepticism, accounting research has generally found evidence that supports the use of these labor pools. However, one important distinction unique to online labor markets is the pre-screening process that qualifies participants for future studies. As the identity of online participants are generally unknown, researchers rely on participants’ self-reported identities to establish a pool of qualified respondents. This paper aims to provide evidence of the reliability of online participants’ answers to pre-screening questions.
Design/methodology/approach
Following the current literature’s recommendations on pre-screening candidates, I employ a multi-stage design using two similar surveys that are taken by each participant. I compare participants' answers on the first survey and the second survey to provide evidence on the consistency of their responses.
Findings
My results indicate that online participants are responding with substantial inconsistency to survey questions related to their social identity at a rate that may not be tolerable for many researchers. This has implications for researchers who use these online labor markets to represent a particular population of interest.
Originality/value
This study is the first to provide evidence on the consistency of online labor market participant responses. Additionally, it is the first to test the efficacy of current recommended guidelines for identifying populations of interest in the literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author wish to thank the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Funding for Faculty Research and Development (FFRD) at Providence College for the financial support of the project that led to this study. The author is truly thankful for Jesus who sustained me through the time the author spent on this project. The author is very grateful for the help and guidance from Chris Agoglia and Ryan Guggenmos. The author is also thankful for helpful feedback from Mary Kate Dodgson, Nikki Mackenzie, Steve Perreault, Jeffrey Pickerd and Aaron Saiewitz.
Citation
Kuselias, S. (2020), "Who are you? Inconsistent identity reporting in online labor markets", Accounting Research Journal, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 457-468. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARJ-05-2019-0090
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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