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This is a two-voice autoethnographic dialogue about Rousseau's Confessions and their relevance for the contemporary autoethnograpy. The paper examines the possibility that Rousseau was not only the creator of modern autobiography but also a forerunner of autoethnography. Many features of the Rousseau's masterpiece are analyzed and systematically compared to our contemporary autoethnographic sensibility: the purposes which brought him to write an outstandingly detailed description of his life; the fact that he acknowledges autobiography as the only source of true knowledge; his obsession for sincerity and his strong will to disclose all the truth about his own life to his readers (included the dreadful things that he did); the authority that he assigned to the readers in deciding about the truthfulness of his tale; his concern for the ethical issues and the care of the others; and the therapeutic value that he recognized to the practice of writing about themselves. In the end, Jean-Jacques was not only extraordinarily able to use his emotions to analyze human nature, but also he was a radical autobiographer at the limits of intransigence. His considerations on the value of autobiography can help us greatly to legitimize contemporary autoethnographic practice.

The aim of this paper is to focus on Rousseau's three major works: the epistolary novel Julia. Or, The New Eloisa, one of the eighteenth century's best sellers, the political essay The Social Contract, and the pedagogical treatise Emile: or On Education. It seeks to explore the innovative management theories Rousseau develops as he embarks in the simultaneous composition of these three major works, particularly as he conceptualizes his ideal society and envisions a brand new political system, one that would take into account the natural state of humankind in order to socialize them more efficiently.

The paper explores Rousseau's solution to these obstacles, and examines his understanding of censorship, as well as the surreptitious control of people's values, tastes, and aspirations. His vision of humanity is very similar to that of “a machine to be put together by skillful devices”, assuming “that the materials of which it is composed are colorless and lifeless”.

The conclusions reached in this paper hinge upon, in significant part, Rousseau's approach to management science, and the individual's subjection to authority, as well as the overarching necessity for any form of power to be imperceptible.

The paper shows that in Rousseau's mind, people are mere pawns on the political chessboard, “to be arranged by the fancy of the legislator.”

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.

The purpose of this paper is to explore epistemic conditions to make a comparative anthropology on contract thinking, regarding what could be defined as normative principles of democracy in organisations. Also to examine the influence of seminal works to contract thinking today, i.e. Psychological contract (Denise M. Rousseau) and Social contract (Jean‐Jacques Rousseau).

Use of a Seven normative criteria comparative framework discriminating forms of democratic contracts today.

The paper presents a grid to assess later works on psychological contracts; and criteria defining a “democratic contractualism”.

The paper assesses the initial theory of psychological contracts and its reception from 1995 to 2005.

The paper strengthens the psychological contracts' framework with historical and external comparisons.

Idiosyncratic deals are personalized employment conditions individual workers have negotiated. This study aims to investigate influences on supervisors' authorization of i‐deals and their evaluation of these arrangements.

Structural modeling was used to analyze survey data from n=263 supervisors managing telecommuting employees in the German public administration.

Supervisors differentiated among i‐deals regarding development, flexibility, and workload reduction. Their authorization of developmental i‐deals was influenced by employee initiative. Supervisors viewed these i‐deals to have positive implications for employee motivation and performance. Flexibility i‐deals were influenced by structural conditions such as the type of work the employee performed. Supervisors viewed these i‐deals to enhance work‐life benefits. Supervisors tended to grant workload reduction i‐deals in the context of unfulfilled organizational obligations towards employees.

Relying on single‐source cross‐sectional data, our results provide a managerial perspective on i‐deals. Conclusions regarding implications for employees are tentative. Recommendations for future study designs are discussed.

Managers need to better recognize that i‐deals take different forms, and these forms are associated with different outcomes. I‐deals provide a way to experiment with innovative human resource practices.

This is the first study to examine i‐deals from a supervisor perspective. It is the first to identify differential circumstances and consequences managers associate with authorizing three distinct forms of i‐deals.

This paper is derived from a larger study that explored how the rationality of freedom became inscribed in educational practices that shaped and reshaped limits that constitute the responsible parent. Here, I draw on part of the study to diagnose how romantic discourse on childhood, which rewrote religious and secular discourse in the eighteenth century, was refashioned in the nineteenth century to rewrite the responsible parent. In this historical inquiry, I follow Foucault’s lead and analyse thoughts of freedom not as a value that we cannot live without or an illusion that hides the truth of our oppression but as a political tool for producing the ‘other’ as a means of inciting the autonomous parent to recognise the self as an ethical subject responsible for educating the child. What this exposes is how the writing and rewriting of the responsible parent in terms of educating the child within liberal government is reliant on fabricating ‘otherness’ as a threat to freedom.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationships between elements of the psychological contract (i.e. type and fulfilment) and an employee's intention to leave (ITL) their current organisation. The role of careerism as a potential mediating and moderating variable is also to be explored.

In total, 202 allied health professionals (AHPs) completed a questionnaire containing measures of the psychological contract, careerism and ITL.

As predicted, path analyses conducted via structural equation modelling demonstrated that careerism partially mediates the relationship between contract types and ITL. These findings suggest that employees with transactional contracts are more careerist, resulting in higher ITL, while employees with relational contracts are less careerist, resulting in lower ITL. Contrary to expectation, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that careerism failed to moderate the relationship between perceived contract fulfillment and ITL. However, a strong positive association between contract fulfillment and ITL was found.

The data were collected cross‐sectionally, which limits the ability to make causal inferences.

Results were consistent with the proposition that contract type and fulfillment explain employee ITL. It appears that employees with relational contracts are more likely to remain with their organization on a longer‐term basis, compared to employees with transactional contracts, due to differences in career motives. Organizational awareness and understanding of employee psychological contracts and career motives is needed.

This paper provides new theoretical and practical insights on how psychological contracts and careerism can influence ITL among AHPs.

There has been controversy about whether Adam Smith is an economic egalitarian because he expresses at least four distinct views on equality, in two of which, he approves of inequality, and in the other two, he claims otherwise. The purpose of this paper is to isolate and consider these four views carefully to understand Smith’s complete position on equality.

The paper examines Smith’s apparently contradictory views on equality as his evolving response to Hume and Rousseau’s critiques of inequality.

Hume and Rousseau criticize any income inequality that is disproportionate to industry between the rich and poor. Smith’s response to their critiques evolves over time. In his initial response in early writings, he defends inequality in a civilized society by comparing it with a poor primitive society. However, in his later response in The Wealth of Nations, he eventually accepts Hume and Rousseau’s critiques of inequality. According to Smith, an equal and opulent society will evolve. A primitive society is equal but poor. In contrast, an existing civilized society is opulent but unequal. In each society, equality and opulence are incompatible. However, Smith believes that a future civilized society will fully achieve both equality and opulence.

The paper analyses both historically and theoretically the comprehensive structure of Smith’s egalitarian views.

Using psychological contract theory as its foundation, the purpose of this paper is to examine the important, but under-explored, relationship between careerism and organizational attitudes among workers in India.

In total, 250 middle-level executives, working in six manufacturing plants of motorbike companies located in Northern India, were surveyed.

As hypothesized, careerism was found to be negatively related to affective commitment, organization satisfaction and perceived organizational performance. Contrary to expectations, however, careerism was positively related to continuance and normative commitment.

The study is based on a cross-sectional survey. Also, because the motorbike industry is male dominated, all the executives surveyed are men.

Despite concerns that employees with more transactional relationships with their employers are no longer loyal to their organizations, this study demonstrates that Indian employees with a higher careerism also have higher levels of normative and continuance organizational commitment.

Prior research has produced conflicting results as to whether employees with more careerist, transactional psychological contracts with their employers have more negative organizational attitudes. This study contributes to research on psychological contract theory and careerism in today’s turbulent career landscape while also answering calls to examine the generalizability of western theories of careers in non-western countries.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic and systematic conceptualization of the impact of strategic human resource management (SHRM) on the psychological contract. Specifically, this paper aims to explore how the alignment of HR-systems and organizational communication influences the congruence and breach of the psychological contract.

The paper applies the signaling theory as a lens to develop a typology of four “ideal types” of SHRM configurations, each characterized by differences in the alignment of the HR-system and communication quality. Based on this typology, the influence of these different SHRM configurations on the congruence and breach of the psychological contract is being proposed.

The typology shows that the alignment of HR-systems and communication quality impact differently on the formation and breach of the psychological contract. It highlights that employees require both, highly aligned HR-systems and a high-quality communication to form congruent contract perceptions.

The configurational arguments embedded in the typology allow the conceptualization of the interrelationships between the alignment of HR-systems, organizational communication and the congruence and breach of the psychological contract. The propositions derived from the typology can guide research on SHRM as an antecedent of the psychological contract and shed light on the role of the psychological contract as a linking mechanism between SHRM and the employees’ reactions.