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Psychological Contract Fulfilment, Perceived Employability and Engagement:
Temporary vs. Permanent Agency Workers
Rita Fontinha 1 & Nele De Cuyper 2
1 Portsmouth Business School, University of Portsmouth 2 Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven
Previous Research on Temporary Work
Research on temporary work usually focuses on comparisons between:
Directly-Hired Temporary and Permanent Workers(see De Cuyper et al., 2008a, for a review; Konrad et al., 2013)
Temporary Agency Workers and Directly-Hired Permanent Workers(De Cuyper et al., 2008b; Chambel & Castanheira, 2006;
Guest et al., 2003; Klein Hesselink et al., 1998; Wilkin, 2013)
We will now focus on Temporary Agency Work and compare it to a relatively under investigated type of contingent work: Permanent Agency Work (exception Svensson & Wolvén, 2010).
Temporary vs. Permanent Agency Work
Temporary Agency Work Permanent Agency Work
Workers hired by an agency for a defined period of time and
assigned to user undertakings to work under their supervision
Workers hired by an agency to work in temporary assignments at
user firms, but they continue being paid between assignments (two thirds of their last salary or
the minimum salary)
(Article 183 of the Portuguese Labour Code,2009; Official Journal of the European Union L327/9, 2008)
Less insecurity
Psychological Contract Fulfilment
An individual’s belief regarding the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between that focal person and the organisation for which he or she works (Rousseau, 1995). The Client/User firm
The content of the psychological contract
refers to promises made between the employee and the organisation.
The fulfilment of the psychological contract refers to the extent to
which the promises are kept.
Psychological Contract
Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Engagement
Psychological Contract
FulfilmentEngagement
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Psychological Contract Fulfilment is associated to the fulfilment of perceived obligations by the employer (the client organisation here).This perception will lead workers to reciprocate (Blau, 1964; Gouldner, 1960) by demonstrating favourable attitudinal and behavioural outcomes, such as:
Higher Organisational Commitment e.g. Fontinha, Chambel & De Cuyper, 2012 Less Turnover Intentions e.g. Bal, Cooman, & Mol, 2013
Better Performance e.g. Conway and Coyle-Shapiro, 2011
Higher levels of Engagement e.g. Bal, Cooman, & Mol, 2013
Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Engagement
Psychological Contract
Fulfilment
Absorption
Vigour
DedicationBeing strongly involved in one's work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge.
Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá & Bakker, 2001
High levels of energy and mental resilience while working, willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and persistence even in the face of difficulties.
Being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work, wherebytime passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching oneself from work.
The role of Perceived Employability (PE)
PEExternal
PE Internal
Perceived ability to find another job with the same employer.
Perceived ability to find another job in the
external labour market.
De Cuyper & De Witte, 2011
The role of Perceived Employability (PE)
Relevant to study perceived employability, comparing temporary and permanent agency workers!
Unclear relationship between contract type (Permanent vs Temporary) and PE:(De Cuyper, Van der Heijden & De Witte, 2011)
Psychological Contract
Fulfilment
PE Internal
PE External
EngagementPE Internal
PE External
By fulfilling their psychological contracts, organisations are likely to be providing inducements that enhance internal and external PE (e.g. progression opportunities; transferable skills)
Internal PE is likely to be positively related to engagement, due to reciprocity. External PE might negatively relate to commitment, but might relate positively to engagement.
Psychological Contract
Fulfilment
Absorption
Vigour
Dedication
Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Engagement: The role of Perceived Employability
PE Internal
PE External
H1 – Hypothesised Mediation Model
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Comparing Permanent vs. Temporary Agency Workers
H2 - We anticipate that the mediating roles of internal and external employability will be stronger for temporary (vs. permanent) agency workers (due to their more insecure contract type).
Permanent Agency Workers
Temporary Agency Workers
Method – Participants
N = 271Temporary Agency Workers = 89Permanent Agency Workers = 182
Temporary AW Permanent AW
Gender Male 20 / Female 69 Male 64 / Female 118
Age 32.16 27.37
Education Secondary School 60%University 40%
Secondary School 53%University 47%
Tenure 18 months 27 months
Method - Measures
Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) – Schaufeli et al., 2002 – 17 item Dedication (α = .88)Vigour (α = .84)Absorption (α = .83)
Engagement(Dedication,
Vigour, Absorption)
Perceived Employability(Internal and
External)
Psychological Contract
Fulfilment
De Cuyper & De Witte, 2010 – 8 itemQualitative PE – Chances of finding a better job Internal PE (α = .69)External PE (α = .81)
Rousseau’s (2000) scale, 32 items, Portuguese version (Chambel & Alcover, 2011). Balanced (α = .91) Relational (α = .89) Transactional (α = .78)
Results – Multiple Group Comparisons with SEM
Psychological Contract
Fulfilment
Absorption
Vigour
DedicationPE Internal
PE External
TemporaryAgency
Workers
n.s.
Chi-Squared = 592.33; DF = 346; TLI = .91; CFI = .92; RMSEA = .05; SRMR =.08Sobel Dedication = 2.01, p<.05Sobel Absorption = 1.95, p<.05
.43**
.33**
.44**
.42***
.33*
n.s.
.28*
-.47***
-.60***
-.47**
Results – Multiple Group Comparisons with SEM
Psychological Contract
Fulfilment
Absorption
Vigour
DedicationPE Internal
PE External
PermanentAgency
Workers
-.32***
Chi-Squared = 592.33; DF = 346; TLI = .91; CFI = .92; RMSEA = .05; SRMR =.08
.39**
.34***
.55***
.56***
n.s.
n.s.
n.s.
n.s.
n.s.
n.s.
Discussion
Temporary Agency Workers are likely to foresee a stepping stone to better career opportunities with that client. This is why we found:PC Fulfilment Perceived Internal Employability Dedication Absorption
For Temporary Agency Workers, external PE is not influenced by PC Fulfilment,
and it is negatively related to all dimensions of
engagement.
Discussion
Permanent Agency Workers are likely to perceive that the transition
to a permanent contract with an agency (despite objectively more
favourable) is not a positive inducement for their careers.
They are likely to feel permanently precarious!
For Permanent Agency Workers, PC Fulfilment is positively related to
Internal PE, as expected, but negatively related to External PE (less
perceived opportunities outside).
But neither is related to Engagement!
Managerial Implications
Especially in the current context of economical crisis, companies will tend to avoid temporary agency work as a selection mechanism and continue working with the same workers without providing them a direct contract.
We have investigated a particular type of contingent employment that may become more and more frequent (Kalleberg et al., 2000).
However this may lead to less engagement and unwanted negative
attitudinal and behavioural outcomes that may jeopardize the
organizational performance.
More careful career development strategies
are needed!
TempAW PermanentAW F Sig.PCFulBal
2.67 2.33 13.27 .000PCFulRel
2.47 2.31 2.66 .104PCFul Trans
2.83 2.58 9.45 .002PE External
2.77 2.75 5.28 .022PE Internal
2.75 2.64 1.55 .214Dedication
4.84 4.25 10.62 .001Absorption
4.43 3.82 10.85 .001Vigour
4.65 4.14 9.28 .003
Correlations
Contract Type
PCFulBal PCFulRel PCFul Trans
PE External
PE Internal Dedication Absorption Vigour
Contract Type 1 -.217** -.099 -.184** .139* -.076 -.195** -.197** -.183**
PCFulBal -.217** 1 .719** .607** -.203** .336** .478** .392** .408**
PCFulRel -.099 .719** 1 .611** -.214** .333** .454** .351** .384**
PCFul Trans -.184** .607** .611** 1 -.229** .256** .380** .280** .294**
PE External .139* -.203** -.214** -.229** 1 .079 -.295** -.305** -.316**
PE Internal-.076 .336** .333** .256** .079 1 .276** .217** .190**
Dedication-.195** .478** .454** .380** -.295** .276** 1 .794** .812**
Absorption-.197** .392** .351** .280** -.305** .217** .794** 1 .814**
Vigour -.183** .408** .384** .294** -.316** .190** .812** .814** 1
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
