Title: The impact of employee type, professional experience and academic discipline on the psychological contract of academics

Authors: Lawal O. Yesufu

Addresses: Faculty of Business, Sharjah Campus, Higher Colleges of Technology, Sharjah, UAE

Abstract: The objective of this paper was to examine the effect of employee type, professional experience and academic discipline on the psychological contract of higher education academics. The study combines two existing tools: psychological contract inventory and the HR Practice Scale. The study was a quantitative study that applied multiple regression analysis to determine what portion of the psychological contract types are predicted by the employee characteristics. The findings indicate that the part-time academics and academics with short-term professional experience have a significant and inverse impact on the relational psychological contract. Hence, their employment status (part-time and short-term) adversely affects the commitment and loyalty academics have to their employers. This strengthens the findings that academics have balanced perceptions; this indicates that academics are committed to both their employers and external factors such as a commitment to knowledge and societal development. The academic discipline of an academic has no impact on their perceptions. The study contributes to the literature on the psychological contract, by investigating the contract from a balanced perspective and by investigating the effects of employee characteristics.

Keywords: organisational psychology; balanced psychological contract; hybrid psychological contract; full-time; part-time; academic discipline; short-term; medium-term; long-term; higher education institutions; human resource practices; management in education; higher education management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2020.107057

International Journal of Management in Education, 2020 Vol.14 No.3, pp.311 - 329

Received: 27 Feb 2019
Accepted: 20 May 2019

Published online: 01 May 2020 *

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