Judi McLean Parks

I pledge thee my troth … contingently: commitment and the contingent work relationship

Abstract This paper examines work commitment outside of traditional and ongoing employer–employee relationships. In particular, attention is given to the commitment-related implications associated with the growth of various forms of “contingent” employment contracts. Of specific theoretical and practical concern is the applicability, overlap, and/or relative importance of various commitment foci (e.g., organization, job, occupation, and employment) for workers employed in both traditional arrangements and three illustrative forms of contingent employment. Implications for commitment theory, human resource management practices, and future research needs are discussed.

Fitting Square Pegs into Round Holes: Mapping the Domain of Contingent Work Arrangements onto the Psychological Contract

In this paper, we have endeavored to integrate the literature on psychological contracts with the literature on contingent work arrangements. After reviewing previous work on contingent employment, we illustrate how the dimensions of psychological contracts (stability, scope, tangibility, focus, time frame, particularism, multiple agency and volition) are more useful in highlighting differences and similarities among alternative employment arrangements in a meaningful and parsimonious manner. In doing so, we have sought to avoid the limitations of a typology or categorization of employment arrangements that has, thus far, yielded inconsistent and contradictory research results. In addition, we argue that the dimensions of psychological contracts, rather than the content of contracts, is more generalizable across type of work arrangement, as well as across different types of jobs and across national boundaries.

The Manager Giveth, the Manager Taketh Away: Variation in Distribution/Recovery Rules Due to Resource Type and Cultural Orientation

Although the resource allocation literature has frequently examined the decision rules used to distribute monetary resources, many other types of resources have not been systematically studied. In addition, very little is known about the allocation rules that might be used when resources are recovered (i.e., taken away) as opposed to distributed. As managers frequently face decisions regarding the distribution or recovery of different resources, developing a greater understanding of the rules they might use to give or take away resources is important. This study examined the difficulty of resource allocation decisions and allocation rule choices. Our results suggest need rules are generally preferred by allocators, although rule preferences were affected by both the type of resource and whether the resource was being distributed rather than recovered. In particular, the preference for equality rules was stronger when resources were recovered. Our findings also suggest that managers may find recovery decisions more difficult than distribution decisions, and that monetary and affiliative resources are among the most difficult to allocate.

Elasticity in the ‘rules’ of the game: Exploring organizational expedience

The primary objectives of this article are twofold. Our first objective is to introduce the construct of ‘organizational expedience’. We differentiate organizational expedience from a wide range of related constructs in the literature, such as counterproductive work behavior, deviance, pro-social rule-breaking, organizational retaliation behavior, and propensity to withhold effort. Our second goal is to provide a conceptual framework that proposes that role stressors (i.e. ambiguity, conflict, and overload) are antecedents of organizational expedience, which in turn predicts other worker behaviors such as voice, creativity, and cynicism. Details of the mechanisms underlying these relationships are presented as mediators including tension, task conflict, and emotional exhaustion. In addition, behavioral integrity and psychological ownership are discussed as potential moderators of the specified relationships. Based upon our conceptual framework, a series of propositions are provided as a platform for future research on organizational expedience.

Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia: a field study of role ambiguity, identification, information-seeking, organizational support and performance

A total of 154 foreign workers in Saudi Arabia responded to a web survey that inquired about role characteristics, work attitudes and behaviors. Surveys were matched with 138 supervisor surveys asking about the focal workers job performance. Results indicated a significant relationship between role ambiguity and job performance, a relationship mediated by organizational identification, which was moderated by both information-seeking and perceived organizational support. This research is one of only a few studies of professional workers in Saudi Arabia (both male and female). Furthermore, this study is one of a handful of studies to explore the attitudes and performance of foreign workers, a worker population often confounded in studies that focus on domestic, expatriate or inpatriate workers.

The Benefits of Walking Your Talk: Aggregate Effects of Behavioral Integrity on Guest Satisfaction, Turnover, and Hotel Profitability:

Extending theory on behavioral integrity to department and business unit levels of analysis, we examined a chain of relationships culminating in operational and financial performance measures. Specifically, we analyzed survey data from 6,800 workers from 76 same-branded US hotels and integrated it with operational and financial data. Latent variables structural equation modeling and path analyses showed strong associations between manager behavioral integrity and worker turnover, customer satisfaction, and hotel profitability. In fact, behavioral integrity accounted for 13% of the variance in profitability across hotels. This relationship was partially mediated by trust in managers, affective commitment, and discretionary service behavior.