Psychological Contract Fulfilment, Perceived Employability and Engagement:

1. Psychological Contract Fulfilment, Perceived Employability and Engagement: Temporary vs. Permanent Agency Workers Rita Fontinha1 & Nele De Cuyper2 1 Portsmouth Business School, University of Portsmouth 2 Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven

2. Previous Research on Temporary Work Research on temporary work usually focuses on comparisons between: Directly-Hired Temporary and Permanent Workers (see De Cuyperet al., 2008a, for a review; Konrad et al., 2013) Temporary Agency Workers and Directly-Hired Permanent Workers (De Cuyperet al., 2008b; Chambel & Castanheira, 2006; Guest et al., 2003; Klein Hesselinket al., 1998; Wilkin, 2013) We will now focus on Temporary Agency Workand compare it to a relatively under investigated type of contingent work: Permanent Agency Work (exception Svensson & Wolvén, 2010).

3. 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) Less insecurity (Article 183 of the Portuguese Labour Code, 2009; Official Journal of the European Union L327/9, 2008)

4. Psychological Contract Fulfilment Psychological Contract 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.

5. Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Engagement Psychological Contract Fulfilment + Engagement 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

6. Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Engagement Dedication Being strongly involved in one's work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge. Psychological Contract Fulfilment Vigour • 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. Absorption • Being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work, whereby • time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching oneself from work. Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá & Bakker, 2001

7. The role of Perceived Employability (PE) PE Internal PE External 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

8. The role of Perceived Employability (PE) PE Internal Psychological Contract Fulfilment • By fulfilling their psychological contracts, organisations are likely to be providing inducements that enhance internal and external PE (e.g. progression opportunities; transferable skills) PE External • 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. PE Internal Engagement PE External • Unclear relationship between contract type (Permanent vs Temporary) and PE: • (De Cuyper, Van derHeijden & De Witte, 2011) Relevant to study perceived employability, comparing temporary and permanent agency workers!

9. Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Engagement: The role of Perceived Employability H1 – Hypothesised Mediation Model PE Internal + Dedication + + + + Psychological Contract Fulfilment + Vigour + + + + Absorption + PE External

10. Comparing Permanent vs. Temporary Agency Workers Permanent Agency Workers 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).

11. Method – Participants N = 271 Temporary Agency Workers = 89 Permanent Agency Workers = 182

12. Method - Measures Rousseau’s (2000) scale, 32 items, Portuguese version (Chambel& Alcover, 2011). Balanced (α = .91) Relational (α = .89) Transactional (α = .78) Psychological Contract Fulfilment Perceived Employability (Internal and External) De Cuyper & De Witte, 2010 – 8 item Qualitative PE – Chances of finding a better job Internal PE (α = .69) External PE (α = .81) Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) – Schaufeli et al., 2002 – 17 item Dedication (α = .88) Vigour (α = .84) Absorption (α = .83) Engagement (Dedication, Vigour, Absorption)

13. Results – Multiple Group Comparisons with SEM Temporary Agency Workers PE Internal .33* Dedication .43** -.47*** .42*** n.s. Psychological Contract Fulfilment .44** Vigour -.47** .33** .28* n.s. Absorption PE External -.60*** Chi-Squared = 592.33; DF = 346; TLI = .91; CFI = .92; RMSEA = .05; SRMR =.08 Sobel Dedication = 2.01, p<.05 Sobel Absorption = 1.95, p<.05

14. Results – Multiple Group Comparisons with SEM Permanent Agency Workers PE Internal n.s. Dedication .39** n.s. .56*** n.s. Psychological Contract Fulfilment .55*** Vigour n.s. .34*** n.s. -.32*** Absorption PE External n.s. Chi-Squared = 592.33; DF = 346; TLI = .91; CFI = .92; RMSEA = .05; SRMR =.08

15. 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.

16. Discussion 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! 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!

17. Managerial Implications We have investigated a particular type of contingent employment that may become more and more frequent (Kalleberg et al., 2000). 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. More careful career development strategies are needed! However this may lead to less engagement and unwanted negative attitudinal and behavioural outcomes that may jeopardize the organizational performance.

18. Thank you for your attention! QUESTIONS? rita.fontinha@port.ac.uk • nele.decuyper@psy.kuleuven.be