Abstract
This research investigated the triangular employment relationship between organizations, temporary staffing agencies, and clerical temporary workers using the conceptual framework of the psychological contract. The rapid growth in triadic employment relationships is well documented; however, there is limited research into the interlocking psychological contracts between the three parties. This research advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying triangular psychological contracts by drawing attention to the ways in which people’s beliefs concerning their own obligations toward others may be incommensurate with their expectations of other parties. Findings are based on semistructured interviews with 10 client organization representatives, 10 staffing agency consultants, and 20 female clerical temporaries working in Auckland, New Zealand. The interviews revealed that the three sets of participants held mutually incompatible expectations, which were shaped by their differing positions and power bases within the temporary labor market. Each group expected, or wanted, the other parties to behave toward them as if a relational psychological contract existed but perceived their obligations toward others in more transactional terms. In consequence, the expectations, goals, and actions of the three sets of participants often conflicted, creating a range of adverse outcomes, which were unintended by, and problematic for, each group within the triangular employment relationship.
Highlights
Psychological contract theory is one of the dominant approaches to understanding the ways in which employment relationships operate at the psychological level (McLean Parks et al, 1998; Schalk & Roe, 2007; Sherman & Morley, 2015). Rousseau’s (1995, 2001, 2018) interpretation of psychological contract theory provides a useful model for analyzing the employer/employee relationship
This research examined the triangular psychological contract between client organizations, temporary employment agencies, and temporary clerical workers, revealing the ways in which their perspectives and behaviors were shaped by their positions within the triangular working relationship
Three key issues emerging from the research seem important to understanding the dynamics of the psychological contract within triangular employment relationships: first, the ways in which their relative power or powerlessness shape each party’s expectations of others and perceived obligations toward them; second, the role of generalized expectancies in shaping the psychological contracts between parties; lastly, differences between the three groups’ expectations of others and perceived obligations toward them
Summary
Psychological contract theory is one of the dominant approaches to understanding the ways in which employment relationships operate at the psychological level (McLean Parks et al, 1998; Schalk & Roe, 2007; Sherman & Morley, 2015). Rousseau’s (1995, 2001, 2018) interpretation of psychological contract theory provides a useful model for analyzing the employer/employee relationship. Rousseau’s (1995, 2001, 2018) interpretation of psychological contract theory provides a useful model for analyzing the employer/employee relationship She suggests that the psychological contract involves “individual beliefs, shaped by the organisation, regarding terms of an exchange agreement between individuals and their organisations” This study draws upon data from interviews with client organization representatives, recruitment consultants, and female clerical temporary workers to explore three key issues It examines the ways in which the psychological contracts of each group reflect their position within the agency labor market. These intersecting triadic expectations have been neglected in both theoretical writing and empirical research
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