Temporary agency workers and their psychological contracts
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451011010122 |
| Date | 05 January 2010 |
| Pages | 184-199 |
| Published date | 05 January 2010 |
| Author | Sven Svensson,Lars‐Erik Wolvén |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Temporary agency workers and
their psychological contracts
Sven Svensson and Lars-Erik Wolve
´n
Mid Sweden University, O
¨stersund, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this article is to test the assumption that both management and co-workers
constitute multiple contract constituencies, as advocated for in recent research on psychological
contracts. It also aims to test the theory of cognitive schemas as predictors of psychological contract
development. Finally, it aims to examine the validity of the relational subscale of psychological
contracts.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through three survey studies in different
workplaces, areas and settings and were analyzed through Fisher’s exact test, principal component
analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings – The results supported the notion of multiple contract constituencies. Partial support was
found for the theory of cognitive schemas and their influence on psychological contract development.
The study also revealed new sub-dimensions of the psychological contract, here called “Fellowship”
and “Challenge/Development”. These new sub-dimensions respond differently to predictors that,
according to psychological contract theory, are supposed to generate similar effects.
Research limitations/implications – Since the findings of this study call into question some of the
earlier research: it would be desirable to study psychological contracts, using a multiple foci approach,
with a greater, random, sample.
Practical implications – The results indicate a need to draw further attention to the role of the
co-workers in the integration of agency staff in client companies.
Originality/value – Since no previous study has tested thenotion ofco-workers asconstituencies of
the psychological contract, these empirical results will challenge much previous research on the
concept of psychological contracts.
Keywords Psychologicalcontracts, Temporary workers,Integration, Flexible labour, Sweden
Paper type Research paper
In order to adjust to an increasing demand for flexibility in working life the hiring of
staff from temporary work agencies have become more and more prevalent
(Olofsdotter, 2008; Kalleberg, 2000), and is likely to increase in the near future (Felstead
and Jewson, 1999). The integration of temporary agency workers (hereafter temp s or
TAWs) in the client companies to which they are hired has proven to be associated
with certain problems. These difficulties may, for example, reveal themselves in
permanent staff members denying resources to agency workers and treating them as
inferior. In so doing they accentuate their differences in status and thereby dominating
the temps (Olofsdotter, 2008; Byoung-Hoon and Frenkel, 2004). The inclusion of TAWs
in a company can also result in worsened relations among the permanent staff and
bring about an increased intention to leave among both permanent staff and TAWs
(Broschak and Davis-Blake, 2006; Davis-Blake et al., 2003).
In Sweden, where this study was conducted, TAWs enjoy the same level of
employment security as they would in other forms of employment and the most
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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ER
32,2
184
Received 23 February 2009
Revised 29 June 2009
Accepted 28 August 2009
Employee Relations
Vol. 32 No. 2, 2010
pp. 184-199
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425451011010122
common form of employment for TAWs is that of permanent tenure in the temporary
work agency (TWA). A collective labour agreement regulates the conditions of
employment and guarantees economic security. Amongst other things this means that
the TAWs are paid 80 percent of their salary even when they are currently ou t of
mission (Olofdsotter, 2008). A consequence of this arrangement is that the TAWs have
more than one employer at a time since they are hired out from their TWA and hired in
to a client company. This may result in a complex organizational affiliation, which
among other things, manifests itself through identification with both the agency firm
(their primary employer), and the client company to which they are hired (Olofsdotter,
2008; Liden et al., 2003; George and Chattopadhyay, 2005). Therefore, we find it
important to further investigate the above-mentioned phenomena in a Swedish context.
The theory of a psychological contract (PC) between employers and employees has
been considered to be particularly appropriate in this context (Guest, 2004). However,
the theory and empirical work of the field is not thoroughly elaborated.
Among other things, there is a need to clarify which parties in an organization that
have a psychological contract (Guest, 1998; Marks, 2001). According to PC theory a PC
is possible to exist between several groups or parties in an organization, e.g. between
colleagues in a work group (Rousseau, 1995; Marks, 2001). Still most research, with a
few exceptions, has studied PC as something that is only regarding the
employee– manager relation. More empir ical results are needed in order to bring
clarity to this question. The question of when the PC is formed has also been raised
(Guest, 1998). Recently, it has been proposed that cognitive schemas could be regarded
as one of the “building blocks” of PC (Rousseau, 2001) and influence PC development in
that experience of life in general or of a specific organization in particular affects the
PC. This idea is however not yet empirically tested. Finally, the question regarding the
PC sub dimensions needs to be more thoroughly assessed. This is because of
inconsistencies in results between different studies regarding the same kind of items
loading to different sub-dimensions (Arnold, 1996) and that other studies reports
sub-dimensions unpredicted by PC-theory (Bingham, 2005). Further work is needed to
bring clarity to PC sub-dimensions. Thus, this study of temps aims to test assumptions
made by different theorists in the field. These presuppositions concern the kind of
partners with whom the TAWs have PCs, the scope of these PCs and the homogeneity
of the relational dimension of the PCs.
Temporary work agencies in Sweden
Until 1992 the market in Sweden was regulated by laws that prohibited private labour
mediation and until 1993 profit-making private labour mediation was forbidden
(Almega, 2008a). Since then the use of agency staff has seen a steady increase. The
staffing business in Sweden has grown from 5,000 employees in 1994, to 45,000
employees in 2007 (Almega, 2008b).
Although the state and the county councils stand for the largest proportion of hired
staff in Sweden (Ha
˚kansson and Isidorsson, 2004), the greatest increase can be seen in
assembly and warehouse work (Olofsdotter, 2008).
Psychological contracts
Originally the term “Psychological Contract” (PC) referred to an implicit agreement
about leadership and job performance existing between a foreman and his team
Temporary
agency workers
185
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