Flexible employment patterns is a fast growing organisational policy. The enormous growth of temporary employment suggests that time spent in temporary employment may increasingly characterise typical career paths. For individuals building a career within a temporary employment environment may mean something very different from building a career in a world of permanent and stable employment relationships. It is anticipated that those on temporary or otherwise precarious contracts will conceivably display lower levels of commitment to the work organisation than those enjoying job security and career advancement within the ladder of hierarchy. Indeed, the combined promise of job security and career advancement within corporate hierarchies as linked with incremental increases in authority status and pay have constituted the major rewards through which organisations have been able to elicit organisational attachment and commitment from their employees. The popularity of the concept appears to stem from its linkage with several desirable employee behaviours contributing to organisational effectiveness and efficiency. However, the HRM goals of improved employee commitment will potentially be undermined by the introduction of flexible work and employment patterns. The purpose of this study was to identify the degree the nature and antecedents of organisational commitment for short term professionals. The main argument of the present research is that the new forms of job security rest on the base of employability security. Employability security comes from the chance to accumulate human capital - skills reputation that can be invested in new opportunities as they arise. Our findings supported this argument and explained significant amount of variance in commitment. Additionally our findings reveal the changing nature of commitment. The emergence of "reflective" commitment put forward a new type of commitment. According to "reflective" commitment individuals develop primarily "commitment to self' which is projected to the organisation and reflects the realisation of individual and organisational pursuits.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:286802 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Zeppou, Mary |
| Contributors | Birchall, J. |
| Publisher | Brunel University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/5351 |
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