Contingencies of Contingent Employment: Psychological Contract, Job Insecurity and Employability of Contracted Workers

Drawing on psychological contract literature, the present study examines the emerging contingent employment relationships, which involve the contracted workers, the employment agency and the client organization on whose premises these employees work. This sample s eighty-eight white-collar employees...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Chambel, Maria José, Fontinha, Rita
Format: article
Publication Date:2009
Country:España
Institution:Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid
Repository:Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
OAI Identifier:oai:journals.copmadrid.org:jwop/art/s1576-59622009000300002
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4321/s1576-59622009000300002
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:contracted workers, contingent employment, psychological contract job insecurity, employability
trabajadores contratados, empleo contingente, contrato psicológico, inseguridad laboral, empleabilidad.
Description
Summary:Drawing on psychological contract literature, the present study examines the emerging contingent employment relationships, which involve the contracted workers, the employment agency and the client organization on whose premises these employees work. This sample s eighty-eight white-collar employees working for four Portuguese agencies. The results suggest that the perceived fulfilment of client’s obligations relates positively to the perceived fulfilment of agency’s obligations and that these constructs are independent of one another. Furthermore, as expected, we have found that the perception of job insecurity relates negatively to the fulfilment of agency’s obligations. No relationship was found between employability and the perceived fulfilment of client’s obligations. The results have implications for practitioners and future research.