Moonlighting has been in practice for a long time, but post-pandemic, the inclination of white-collar workers

towards moonlighting has tremendously increased. This study aims to explore the factors that affect the

moonlighting of employees in the post-COVID work environment. The data for the present study are all

secondary data from peer-reviewed journal articles, company reports, news articles, corporate policy statements,

HR publications, and publicly available organisational communications in relation to employee moonlighting.

economy' appear to be outcome-level factors. The study provides a framework which helps to understand the

moonlighting behaviour in a structured manner and also provides practical implications to HR managers and

Moonlighting refers to holding multiple jobs at the same time. It is a practice where an employee takes up an

additional part-time job alongside their primary full-time job, leveraging a remote working style. It has become

common among today’s employees, especially millennials and Gen Z. The flexibility in work culture and

availability of enormous freelance online opportunities have augmented moonlighting among employees. The

trend of moonlighting is not new in European countries, and with the passage of time and the increase in work-

Post-COVID, there is a surge in moonlighting, mainly in the IT sector. As per a survey conducted by Kotak

Institutional Equities on 400 employees of IT and IT-enabled services, reflected that 65% of respondents agreed

“that they knew of people pursuing part-time opportunities/ moonlighting while working from home” (India

Today, 2023). This clearly reflects that moonlighting has become a noticeable practice, highlighting a huge shift

in the workplace scenario. Visibly, Indian companies have divided opinions on moonlighting as being ethical or

not. Many companies like Swiggy, Cred and Tech Mahindra are in favour of it and have been vocal about it.

Tech Mahindra CEO, C.P. Gurnani said, “If someone is meeting the efficiency and productivity norms and he

wants to make some extra money as long as he is not committing fraud, he is not doing something which is

against the values and the ethics of the company, I have no problem” (India Today, 2023). On the other hand,

big IT companies like, TCS, IBM and Infosys are strictly against it. Wipro’s executive chairman, Rishad Premji

lenses to understand the diverse intentions/ motives behind moonlighting. The following thematic literature

A considerable body of literature theorises moonlighting as a response to economic inadequacy. At its core, an

individual moonlights with the expectation of meeting their financial needs. Many employees choose to

moonlight in their free time to complement their primary income. To meet the rising financial demands, people

take up a second job (Rispel et al., 2014). Studies steadily validate that insufficient primary income remains one

of the most important determinants behind multiple jobholding (MJH) (Bajpai, 2023). Heather Dickey, along

with other researchers, found in their study that “individuals use multiple-job holding as a way to deal with the

financial difficulties or the increased financial commitments in their household. Individuals are more likely to

employment led to lure employees for a second job. When individuals perceive that the salary hike opportunities

are limited due to various reasons like organisational hierarchies, economic stress on the company, budgetary

restrictions, or delayed promotion cycle, they may compensate their insufficient primary income with secondary

Furthermore, researchers point out that financial frictions or shocks may intensify the need for extra income

Instability: Post Pandemic Experience”, researchers have studied that a sudden financial shock arose after the

pandemic, leading many to lose their jobs. This made many employees switch to moonlighting with a fear in

mind of losing jobs at any point in time (Surucu et al., 2023). Alessandra Guariglia and Byung-Yeon Kim also

their financial needs at the cost of sacrificing their leisure time or personal time. The pecuniary determinant

aligns with the risk diversification theory, which supports the view that individuals engage in multiple job

holdings (MJH) to lessen income uncertainty and reliance on a primary employer. Collectively, the literature

accentuates that pecuniary determinants form the foundational explanation for moonlighting. Whether driven by

inadequacy, uncertainty, or ambition, financial deliberations remain dominant in influencing the MJH choices of

A comprehensive literary survey reflects that the second most important determinant after the economic factor

is work environment-related factors. It constitutes a major driver behind employees’ moonlighting intention.

Literature shows that low job satisfaction is one of the most commonly cited work-related drivers. K.D.V. Prasad

et al. in their research paper, “The Effect of Job Satisfaction and Moonlighting Intentions with Mediating and

3.0 software. The researchers have studied the sample size of 161 North Indian IT employees and found that

organisational commitment has a mediating effect between job satisfaction and moonlighting intentions (Seema

et al., 2021). Many other similar studies analyse the relationship between moonlighting and job satisfaction. The

studies point out that job satisfaction and moonlighting intention are inversely proportional (James et al., 2024;

Malodia et al., 2018; Sidana et al., 2025). When employees feel that their primary job is unrewarding, repetitious,

or unsatisfying, then they often look for alternative opportunities for psychological and emotional compensation.

Low job satisfaction may result from partial job autonomy, lack of appreciation, insufficient recognition, limited

growth prospects, or estranged relations with supervisors or colleagues. This all may influence employees to

turn to a second job to find job satisfaction. When the main job fails to gratify intrinsic or extrinsic requirements,

Next important driver behind moonlighting intention is job insecurity. It forms the second most cited reason for

moonlighting. In working environments where employee has a constant fear of losing their jobs or do not feel

job security, then they engage in moonlighting with the intention to safeguard themselves from any sudden

retrenchment. Several studies highlight the direct linkage between job insecurity and moonlighting. In

employees take up MJH as a result of a risk-coping mechanism. The findings indicate that the intention of

moonlighting is decreased by 0.03 points when an individual feels job security. “This implies that employees

can be made to stick to single jobs by providing them with higher levels of employment security” (Nunoo et al.,

huge layoffs in 2015-16 and 2016-17 in major IT companies like Cognizant, Cisco, Capgemini SA. Such an

insecure and unstable job scenario has given “rise to a new phenomenon of multi-jobbing which is also referred

to as moonlighting in the context of emerging human resource development” (Sachdeva & Seema, 2019). In

today’s economy, many people indulge in moonlighting to create a safety net against job loss (Kisumano and

Wa-Mbaleka, 2017). The employment security hypothesis postulates that employees to hedge their unstable

employment situations choose to diversify their work portfolio by taking up MJH to reduce dependence on a

primary employer. Moonlighting, in such scenarios, becomes a risk-mitigation or risk-coping mechanism rather

Another driver related to the work environment that motivates employees to moonlight is the underutilisation of

skills in the main job. Sometimes, employees may feel that their proficiencies or talents are not fully recognised

and utilised by their primary employer, and they may look for outward engagements as a way for professional

enrichment and satisfaction. The notion of skill mismatch is when employees perceive that they are either

overqualified or under-challenged in their job role. This appears to be a push factor for moonlighting in literature.

Sandali Singh, in the paper “Moonlighting in the Workforce: A Comprehensive Review”, highlights personal

Moreover, literature highlights that career stagnation can also intensify moonlighting tendencies among

employees. As per the study, “Moonlighting Intentions among Lecturers”, career stagnation is considered a

significant driver behind moonlighting among lecturers. It states, “they (lecturers) may turn to moonlighting as

recognition. These factors, alone or combined, influence employees’ views of whether they should get involved

The literature also shows that employees have flexible entrepreneurial work opportunities due to digitalisation

in the economy. The rise of platform-based work, for instance, e-commerce, e-lancing, web development, content

writing, etc., enabled aspiring entrepreneurs to explore low-cost ventures. In “Analysing the Impact of

Moonlighting and Digital Transformation on Organisational Growth: A Comprehensive Review”, researchers

have examined the number of avenues that have opened for moonlighting due to digitalisation and its impact on

Thus, literature shows a positive impact of moonlighting on one’s entrepreneurial aspirations. Due to the

et al., 2024). Thus, it becomes clear that increased temporal flexibility with WFH or hybrid mode on one side

and the gig economy on the other side have become important determinants behind moonlighting in

contemporary labour markets. Overall, technological and socio-environmental determinants have brought a

ISM). Overall, the conceptual synthesis and structured modelling approach is used to gain insight into the

Emerald, Taylor & Francis and Elsevier were widely explored to determine the key drivers mentioned in previous

To complement the academic findings with the practical organisational evidence, the study also analysed the

official moonlighting position of the various companies from different sectors, including IT, education, food

theory can be applied to examine the determinants of moonlighting intention in contemporary times. According

to Lee, an individual's decision to bring change in his/her current state is either influenced by push factors or

pull factors. Push factors refer to factors that create a sense of dissatisfaction with the current state, whereas pull

factors refer to factors that act as incentives to adopt alternative opportunities. The study of moonlighting

determinants from Lee’s lenses will help us understand that moonlighting is a behavioural response that emerges

from the interaction of negative forces within the primary job and positive forces present in the external

Wage stagnation, financial frictions, and challenging market conditions altogether act as strong push factors that

Under job-related determinants, factors like low job satisfaction, fewer rewards, and high job insecurity together

make strong push factors that encourage employees to indulge in moonlighting. When employees are not

satisfied with their primary job due to underutilisation of skills or an unmatched job profile, they get inclined

towards moonlighting. This discontent is deepened when salary is low, perks are meagre, or endeavours are not

recognised, encouraging employees to seek secondary jobs that may offer better financial or emotional returns.

Additionally, constant fear of layoffs, agreement termination, or organisational uncertainty drives individuals to

secure a substitute income source as a safety guard. Career stagnation, which is characterised by inadequate

promotions, constrained growth, and negligible learning opportunities, often motivates employees to explore the

while maintaining the hedge of stable income from their primary job. At the same time, freelancing, e-lancing,

and project-based tasks are pull factors as they allow flexibility in work, provide greater independence, and lead

to a supplementary earning source. Technological shifts have further fortified this pull by enabling digital work

culture, remote work environment, and platform-based ecosystems, decreasing barriers and making

moonlighting more expedient and feasible than ever. Collectively, these factors build a strong attraction that

unsatisfying conditions in the primary job or financial constraints serve as major push factors. In contrast,

technological advancements and the expanding gig economy, which have made moonlighting easier, serve as

moonlighting is mostly occurring is Information Technology (IT) and software services sector due to the easy

independent consulting services. From a Push–Pull Theory lens, personnel in these sectors are pushed toward

moonlighting because of financial pressures, job insecurity, and rising living costs, while they are concurrently

pulled by prospects for higher earnings, skill augmentation, career broadening, professional independence, and

The present study additionally adopts SMART-Interpretive Structural Modelling (SMART-ISM) as the

methodological framework to further examine and determine the push and pull determinants impacting

that moderate moonlighting behaviour of an individual. Furthermore, SMART-ISM enables a systematic and

scientific analysis of the interrelationships among the moonlighting determinants. The incorporation of SMART

The implementation of SSIM analysis gives a clear picture of how pecuniary, job-related, and opportunity-driven

factors interact with each other. The symbols, as prescribed in SMART ISM to define relationships between i