The Wave of Side-Hustles Amid Global Economic Transformations: Drivers, Impacts, and Future

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-811-0_118How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Side-hustles; Primary employment; Gig economy; Side-hustle motivation

Abstract

Amid global economic instability and sluggish industrial restructuring, the traditional employment model faces unprecedented challenges, propelling “side-hustles” from optional career paths to essential survival strategies. This study examines the dual impact of side-hustles on employees and organizations, defining them as secondary income-generating or non-economic activities alongside primary employment. Driven by economic needs (e.g., income supplementation) and non-economic motives (e.g., skill development, passion), side-hustles exhibit a “double-edged sword” effect. While they enhance self-efficacy and diversify skills, they also trigger time conflicts, chronic fatigue, and identity fragmentation. For organizations, side-hustles challenge conventional management paradigms, including blurred work-life boundaries, reduced incentive effectiveness, and risks of data leakage. The study proposes actionable strategies: organizations should establish disclosure policies, redesign flexible work arrangements, and integrate side-hustle achievements into incentive systems. Individuals are advised to strategically align side-hustles with their primary careers while enhancing self-management. Future research should adopt longitudinal and interdisciplinary approaches to explore long-term societal impacts and institutional inclusivity for informal side-hustles in developing economies.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Bingxue Zhou
AU  - Jianjiang Liu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/08/14
TI  - The Wave of Side-Hustles Amid Global Economic Transformations: Drivers, Impacts, and Future
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 5th International Conference on Enterprise Management and Economic Development (ICEMED 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1089
EP  - 1095
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-811-0_118
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-811-0_118
ID  - Zhou2025
ER  -