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Reciprocity of Temporary and Permanent Workers: an Exploratory Study in an Industrial Company

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Silvia Lopes  and
Maria José Chambel
Silvia Lopes
Affiliation:
Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
Maria José Chambel*
Affiliation:
Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Maria José Chambel. Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa. Alameda da Universidade, 1649-013 Lisboa (Portugal). E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The increasing use of temporary work prompts the need to understand to what degree workers with this type of contract differ from permanent workers as to the relationship they establish with the organization they work for. This study used a sample of temporary workers (N = 78) and permanent workers (N = 196) within the same company of electronics in Portugal. The results show that, regardless of the type of contract, the perception of human resource practices was related to the perception of psychological contract fulfillment by the company. Additionally and according to the norm of reciprocity, we verified that when workers thought the company was fulfilling its obligations they responded favorably showing more affective commitment towards the company. However, we found differences between these two groups of workers: for the permanent performance appraisal, training and rewards were human resources practices that were significantly related to psychological contract fulfillment, while for the temporary ones there weren't any specific practices that had a significant relationship with that variable. The practical implications of these findings for the management of temporary workers are discussed.

El uso creciente de trabajo temporal hace que surja la necesidad de comprender en qué medida los trabajadores con este tipo de contrato difieren de los trabajadores con contratos permanentes en cuanto a la relación que establecen con la organización para la que trabajan. Este estudio utilizó una muestra de trabajadores temporales (N = 78) y otra de trabajadores permanentes (N = 196) de la misma empresa de electrónica en Portugal. Los resultados muestran que, independientemente del tipo de contrato, la percepción de las prácticas de recursos humanos se relaciona con la percepción de cumplimiento del contrato psicológico por parte de la empresa. Adicionalmente y de acuerdo con la norma de reciprocidad, se comprobó que cuando los trabajadores pensaban que la compañía estaba cumpliendo con sus obligaciones, respondieron favorablemente mostrando un mayor compromiso afectivo con la empresa. Sin embargo, encontramos diferencias entre estos dos grupos de trabajadores: para los permanentes, las prácticas de recursos humanos que se relacionaron significativamente con el cumplimiento del contrato psicológico son la evaluación del desempeño, la formación, y las recompensas; mientras que para los temporales hubo prácticas específicas significativas en relación con esta variable. Se discuten las implicaciones prácticas de estos hallazgos para la gestión de los trabajadores temporales.

Keywords

temporary workershuman resources practicespsychological contractaffective commitmenttrabajadores temporalesprácticas de recursos humanoscontrato psicológicocompromiso afectivo
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 1163 - 1176
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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