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

Abstract

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 employee's work. This sample includes 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.