Employee attitudes towards contractual employments in the ICT industry

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to explore and compare the attitudes and behaviours of part-time and full-time employees and how they differ in their employment relationship. The study also investigates how reciprocal work prospects differ between part-timers and full-timers. Changing patterns of the employment relationship and how these affect the quality of person`s working life are analysed. Additionally, the study explores the psychological contract as a predominant factor, affecting the relationship between full-time and part-time employees. Specifically two research questions were set as follows: Research Question 1: ‘To what extent do part-timers and full-timers differ on perceptions of the employment relationship?’ Research Question 2: ‘To what extent do reciprocal work expectations compare between part-time and full-time workers?’ Qualitative data was collected from on fourteen interviews, conducted with seven full–time and seven part-time employees holding different job positions within ICT companies. This data was then analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The findings revealed that temporary workers are less committed and are less satisfied in job commitments, inclusion, and when extra role-commitment is required by the organisation. However, this is not always consistent because part-timers considering full-time employment usually report higher levels of job involvement, commitment and extra tasks. Moreover, full-time employees are usually employed on their contract of choice and thus, report a higher level of job satisfaction, commitment and loyalty towards the employer and other colleagues at the workplace. This implies that part-timers report a much more positive state of the psychological contract when compared to full-time workers. The discussion presents an interpretation of the results in the light of the literature review. Building on the results obtained, a number of practical recommendations and the limitations are presented.