Lonely and unfair, performance impaired: How perceived requester injustice and loneliness shape crowd workers' affect and work effectiveness

Abstract Emerging research highlights a power imbalance in the gig work ecosystem. This study unpacks this imbalance by examining how crowd workers' perceived requester injustice as a relational stressor affects performance. Drawing on Affective Events Theory, we propose that requester injustice is positively associated with negative affect and negatively associated with positive affect, which shape subjective performance. We further shed light on the interplay of relational stressors in shaping crowd workers' emotional reactions by examining state and trait loneliness as moderators of the injustice‐affect relationships. We test the proposed conceptual model across two studies: N = 84 crowd workers surveyed across 515 workdays (Study 1) and N = 141 crowd workers surveyed across one study day (Study 2). Our results indicate a positive relationship between perceived requester injustice and negative affect, moderated by state and trait loneliness. Moreover, perceived requester injustice is also negatively associated with positive affect, but this relationship is not moderated by loneliness. Additionally, negative but not positive affect is negatively related to crowd workers' subjective performance. Taken together, our findings highlight the need for gig platforms to develop policies that reduce requester injustice and foster more human‐centred work environments to reduce negative affect and associated performance.