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Article
Publication date: 16 October 2009

Wenxia You and Xianjia Wang

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and solve the problem of moral hazard in firms because of asymmetry information between firms and workers and to contract upon the workers'…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and solve the problem of moral hazard in firms because of asymmetry information between firms and workers and to contract upon the workers' shiftless actions.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on principle‐agent theory and human resource management practice, an optimal dynamic wage contract model is designed. By applying simulation technology, the dynamic wage contract model is compared to the general static wage contract model and the affects made by the optimal dynamic wage contract to workers and firms are analyzed.

Findings

According to the consequences of simulation, the dynamic wage contract has better characteristics and is more practical than the static one. In the dynamic wage contract, the current action of a worker has a persistent effect on the future outcome. It is proved that the dynamic wage contract is optimal to the firm. The optimal dynamic wage contract is renegation‐proofness. It not only can incentive workers to work hard and help the firm achieve Pareto efficiency, but also can smooth the firm's incentive costs and reduce the risk born by workers.

Originality/value

The paper provides some reasonable conclusions for the human resource management in firms.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 38 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Rise of Precarious Employment in Europe
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-587-0

Book part
Publication date: 30 June 2004

Lynn M Shore, Lois E Tetrick, M.Susan Taylor, Jaqueline A.-M Coyle Shapiro, Robert C Liden, Judi McLean Parks, Elizabeth Wolfe Morrison, Lyman W Porter, Sandra L Robinson, Mark V Roehling, Denise M Rousseau, René Schalk, Anne S Tsui and Linn Van Dyne

The employee-organization relationship (EOR) has increasingly become a focal point for researchers in organizational behavior, human resource management, and industrial relations…

Abstract

The employee-organization relationship (EOR) has increasingly become a focal point for researchers in organizational behavior, human resource management, and industrial relations. Literature on the EOR has developed at both the individual – (e.g. psychological contracts) and the group and organizational-levels of analysis (e.g. employment relationships). Both sets of literatures are reviewed, and we argue for the need to integrate these literatures as a means for improving understanding of the EOR. Mechanisms for integrating these literatures are suggested. A subsequent discussion of contextual effects on the EOR follows in which we suggest that researchers develop models that explicitly incorporate context. We then examine a number of theoretical lenses to explain various attributes of the EOR such as the dynamism and fairness of the exchange, and new ways of understanding the exchange including positive functional relationships and integrative negotiations. The article concludes with a discussion of future research needed on the EOR.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-103-3

Article
Publication date: 24 April 2009

Fernando Durán‐Palma and Diego López

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent developments in employment relations in Chile, focusing on recent episodes of contract labour mobilisation in the…

1064

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent developments in employment relations in Chile, focusing on recent episodes of contract labour mobilisation in the forestry and copper mining sectors.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a consolidation of existing evidence from a range of primary, secondary and tertiary sources.

Findings

The paper demonstrates the inadequacy of Chile's employment relations institutions to protect vulnerable workers and shows the capacity of contract workers to overcome such limitations by recurring to mobilisation. It argues that contract labour mobilisation rather than a shift left in government seems to offer a more plausible explanation of current developments in Chilean employment relations.

Research limitations/implications

The paper identifies salient issues but further research is necessary to understand the actual social processes of collective action involved in recent episodes of contract labour mobilisation.

Practical implications

This information could contribute to better policy making, better management of the employment relationship, and informing the revitalisation of labour movements.

Originality/value

There are few studies on contract workers' collective action particularly in developing countries, and a contribution is made to critical debates on the sustainability of Chile's neoliberal socio‐economic and employment relations system.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2019

Bing Ma, Shanshi Liu, Hermann Lassleben and Guimei Ma

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of psychological contract breach on the relationship between job insecurity and counterproductive workplace behavior…

2760

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of psychological contract breach on the relationship between job insecurity and counterproductive workplace behavior (CWB) and the moderating effect of employment status in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 212 supervisor–subordinate dyads in a large Chinese state-owned air transportation group. AMOS 17.0 software was used to examine the hypothesized predictions and the theoretical model.

Findings

The results showed that psychological contract breach partially mediates the effect of job insecurity on CWB, including organizational counterproductive workplace behavior and interpersonal counterproductive workplace behavior. In addition, the relationships between job insecurity, psychological contract breach and CWB differ significantly between permanent workers and contract workers.

Originality/value

The present study provides a new insight into explaining the linkage between job insecurity and negative work behaviors as well as suggestions to managers on minimizing the harmful effects of job insecurity.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 48 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Ernestine Ndzi

This paper aim to examine the implication of section 172(1)(b) on employment rights, particularly on workers on precarious employment contracts. The aim of the paper is to analyse…

2558

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aim to examine the implication of section 172(1)(b) on employment rights, particularly on workers on precarious employment contracts. The aim of the paper is to analyse whether company directors have any liability for potential abuse of worker on precarious employment contracts. The paper examine the advantage of companies recruiting staff on precarious employment contracts and the effect of such contract on the worker.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews case law, statutory provisions and academic opinions on precarious employment contracts and its advantages and disadvantages to the company and the worker. The paper critically reviews the impact of Section 172(1)(b) of the Companies Act 2006 on precarious employment contract workers.

Findings

The paper argues that companies benefit more from precarious employment contracts than workers do. The Companies Act 2006 is silent on whether directors should factor the interest of precarious employment worker when making company decision, thereby leaving these workers in a vulnerable position and at the mercy of the employers.

Originality/value

The paper offers a different argument about why the use of precarious employment contracts is on the rise in the UK. It highlights the silence of the Companies Act 2006 as a driver for the increase in the use of precarious employment contracts in the UK.

Details

International Journal of Law and Management, vol. 59 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-243X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 December 2017

Aliya Hamid Rao

Highly educated and skilled contract workers come from a range of occupations, have different worker characteristics, and work under organizational practices that are precarious…

Abstract

Highly educated and skilled contract workers come from a range of occupations, have different worker characteristics, and work under organizational practices that are precarious in varied ways. Our current understanding of the experience of contract work does not fully encompass this diversity. This chapter focuses on early-career contract workers who contract across national borders – an increasingly prevalent but little understood phenomenon – to broaden our understanding of contract work. I draw on an analysis of 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 30 international and early-career contract workers in the United Nations (UN) system in Geneva, Switzerland. Eight participants were included in follow-up interviews. I find that my participants demonstrate flexibility to their employer. They accept uncertain and short-term contracts, because they hope to secure longer-term positions within the prestigious UN system. Demonstrating flexibility impacts them, their relationships, and has financial implications as participants center the demands of their contracts. At times, participants place limits on how much uncertainty they will bear. This chapter thus illuminates the experiences of an understudied group of contract workers – early-career workers in transnational settings – who fall within the broad umbrella of contract workers. It highlights how even elite workers experience challenges as they engage in contract work.

Book part
Publication date: 13 August 2007

Todd Fister and Anju Seth

This paper complements previous research on investment in firm-specific human capital by applying real options analysis. Our framework suggests that the parties receive valuable…

Abstract

This paper complements previous research on investment in firm-specific human capital by applying real options analysis. Our framework suggests that the parties receive valuable options to exit the contract when information becomes revealed in the future, but these options may be more valuable for one party than the other. Companies and workers attempt to reduce the value of the options through contractual mechanisms that either shift wealth to the party granting the option or prevent the option from being exercised. In both cases, the mechanisms cause the parties to invest in firm-specific capital, resulting in higher output and higher wages.

Details

Real Options Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1427-0

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2019

Xisco Oliver and Maria Sard

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the whole wage distribution, not just at the mean, and the evolution before and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the whole wage distribution, not just at the mean, and the evolution before and after the Great Recession on this gap in Spain.

Design/methodology/approach

An extended Mincer-type wage equation is estimated using ordinary least square regression and unconditional quantile regression. Then, the decomposition of the wage gap between workers with fixed-term and permanent contracts for each quantile is made using the Fortin, Lemieux and Firpo decomposition.

Findings

The results show that two workers, with identical characteristics, earn different salaries if they have a different type of contract. However, the wage gap is not constant across the wage distribution. The penalty for temporary workers is wider for higher wages. Moreover, the main part of the gap is due to observed characteristics, but other factors (unobserved characteristics and discrimination) become more relevant in the upper part of the wage distribution.

Originality/value

The study expands upon available studies for Spain in two points. First, it is the first paper to the knowledge that analyse both the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the wage distribution and its decomposition. Second, the paper explores what happened before and after the Great Recession. In the years that the paper analyses there is also a labour market reform.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 40 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2018

Jatinder Kumar Jha, Jatin Pandey and Biju Varkkey

This paper aims to examine the relationship between perceived investments in employees’ development (PIED) on work engagement and the moderating effects of psychological capital…

1330

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the relationship between perceived investments in employees’ development (PIED) on work engagement and the moderating effects of psychological capital on this relationship for liquid knowledge workers, employed in the Indian cutting and polishing of diamond industry (CPD).

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire composed of established scales was administered to 134 liquid knowledge workers. Having established convergent and discriminant validity using structural equation modelling, the model was further analysed using the Process macro to check for direct and moderating effects.

Findings

The research findings suggest that the perceived investment in employee development and psychological contract enhancement (relational and transactional) made by CPD units for liquid knowledge workers positively influenced their work engagement level. The study also finds that relational contract (not transactional contract) positively moderates the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and work engagement.

Research limitations/implications

This is a cross-sectional single source study; future studies could look at longitudinal and multisource perspective.

Practical implications

The study presents a “star matrix of engagement” that guides the application of the two strategies of perceived employee development and psychological contract enhancement for liquid knowledge workers. This has implications for design and implementation of human resource management practices and policies for employee management.

Originality/value

The study makes significant contributions to existing literature on antecedents of work engagement of liquid knowledge workers by examining the direct and moderating influences.

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