From Zero to Hero and Back to Zero: The Consequences of Status Inconsistency Between the Work Roles of Multiple Jobholders

The surge of opportunities available through the gig economy has increased the sizeable population of people who hold multiple jobs. Many of these multiple jobholders are full-time employees who have adopted side-hustles—income-generating work performed alongside full-time work. A core and ubiquitous feature of both full-time work and side-hustles is status, or membership in a social hierarchy. Although status has traditionally been investigated as an employee’s enduring position in the social hierarchy at their full-time job, employees with side-hustles hold two distinct work-related statuses: status in their full-time job and status in their side-hustle. Having two statuses necessarily creates a situation in which employees’ status is either consistent or inconsistent across roles. We investigate the implications of status inconsistency between side-hustles and full-time work for employees’ stress, well-being, and performance. We assert that status inconsistency between side-hustles and full-time work requires employees to navigate stress-inducing tensions, such as incongruent role expectations and confusion regarding their sense of self. By extension, we propose that status inconsistency between side-hustles and full-time work promotes more role stress than occupying consistently low-status roles. In a four-wave field study of full-time employees with side-hustles, and their supervisors, we use polynomial regression analysis to test our predictions. We find that status inconsistency diminishes performance in full-time work via role stress and emotional exhaustion. Given the burgeoning gig economy and associated changes to how work is organized, our research has important and timely implications for multiple jobholders and their full-time work organizations.