Session Summary

Session Number:249
Session ID:S183
Session Title:Consequences of Contingent Work: Beyond a Monolithic View
Short Title:Contingent Work Consequences
Session Type:Division Joint Symposium
Hotel:Hyatt East
Floor:LL2
Room:GndBall F
Time:Tuesday, August 10, 1999 3:40 PM - 5:00 PM

Sponsors

HR  (Lynn Shore)mgtlms@langate.gsu.edu (404) 651-3038 
OB  (Robert Liden)bobliden@uic.edu (312) 996-4481 

General People

Chair Davis-Blake, Alison  U. of Texas, Austin alisondb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (512)-471-0826 
Discussant Pearce, Jone L. U. of California, Irvine jlpearce@uci.edu (714) 824-6505 

Submissions

Out of Sight, out of Mind? The Impact of Alternative Work Arrangements on Selection and Effectiveness of Feedback Seeking and Impression Management Behaviors 
Presenter Barsness, Zoe I. Texas A&M U. zbarsness@tamu.edu 409-845-4892 
Presenter Diekmann, Kristina A. U. of Notre Dame diekmann.1@nd.edu (219)-631-7549 
Is Temporary Employment an Effective Selection Tool? The Relationship Between Temporary Employment and Job Performance 
Presenter Broschak, Joseph P. U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign j.broschak@mail.utexas.edu 512-471-0826 
Presenter Davis-Blake, Alison  U. of Texas, Austin alisondb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (512)-471-0826 
Cronies, Grifters & Sycophants: Examining Culture Creation in a Temporary Placement Agency 
Presenter Hill, Vanessa  U. of Arizona vhill@bpa.arizona.edu 520-621-5827 
Boundary Labor Markets: A Grounded Theory of Contingent Work 
Presenter Lautsch, Brenda A. Simon Fraser U. blautsch@sfu.ca 604-291-4920 
Loose Connections or Met Expectations? Socialization and Obligations to Part-Time Faculty 
Presenter Levesque, Laurie L. Carnegie Mellon U. levesque@andrew.cmu.edu (207)-439-9558 
Presenter Rousseau, Denise M. Carnegie Mellon U. rousseau@andrew.cmu.edu (412)-268-8470 

Abstract

Research on the consequences of contingent work has tended to view contingent jobs as uniformly undesirable. Although this research has documented positive consequences of contingent work for firms (such as increased flexibility), the consequences of contingent work for individual contingent workers have generally been seen as negative (see Tilly, 1992 for an important exception). The papers in this symposium document how even a single type of contingent work (e.g., temporary work) is often organized in many ways and how the consequences of contingent work depend on the organizational and social structures surrounding the contingent worker. Because contingent work is not a monolithic category, employing contingent workers increases workplace pluralism by creating many different classes of workers with different psychological contracts, motives, and attitudes. Collectively, the papers in this symposium employ both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the consequences of workplace pluralism for temporary, part-time, and remote workers. The result is a rich picture of how organizational and social structures surrounding contingent work affect a variety of individual outcomes including: the nature of psychological contracts, impression management and feedback-seeking behaviors, organizational and job commitment, job satisfaction and performance, and the individual's role in creating and maintaining organizational culture. Together, the papers reveal that the consequences of contingent work are not uniformly negative. Rather, the effects of employing contingent workers depend both on the type of contingent work that a firm chooses (e.g., temporary work versus part-time work) and on formal and informal structures that are partially under firm control.