Interdisciplinary conference:
“External forms of flexibility in the labour market:
competition or complementarity”
Leuven,October 27th, 2011
*This paper was submitted at the Human Resource Management Journal.
Maria José Chambel,
Mafalda Espada &
Filipa Sobral
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Temporary agency
workers increased all
around
the world in
Employment
recent
years.
Incertitude
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
 Workers that have a temporary contract do not
know how long they will be employed
or how
long
In Portugal
it doubled
TEMPORARY
will they work in the organization
where
areand
from
1998they
to 2008
it penetration rates
at theAGENCY
moment.
increased from 0.6% to
Employment
WORK
0.9% (CIETT, 2010).
Incertitude
 Thus,
employability, especially when linked to
training, has been pointed as an alternative to
security of tenure, that is viewed as a crucial step
towards improving access to employment.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Traditionally
In the context of
Temporary Agency Work
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Organizations exchange security of longterm employment with employees’
positive attitudes and behaviors.
Organizations may invest in employee
development, like training, to guarantee
their employability and in exchange
employees will respond with positive
answers (Galunic& Anderson, 2000).
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Internal employability
Workers’ perception of their potential
to apply for available job opportunities
within the current client organization.
Employability
External employability
Workers’ perception of their potential
to apply for available job opportunities
within another organization.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Employability
Studies have highlighted that
Other important focus of
organizational actions that
research into workers’
promote employability entail a employability is related with its
social exchange relationship
significance on the assurance
with temporary workers
of workers’ well-being
(Chambel & Sobral, 2011).
(Berntson & Marklund, 2007).
Social exchange
relationship
Workers’
well-being
Our study was designed and built by integrating these two lines of research.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
The objective of this research is to
investigate whether the
perceptions of temporary workers
about training plays a crucial role
in explaining their affective
commitment regarding the
organization and their exhaustion
at work.
In particular, the perception that
training promotes their internal or
external employability is expected
to affect their exchange
relationship with the client
organization.
Results
Conclusions
Benson (2006) showed that
development actions that
promote internal
employability and those that
promote external
employability had different
effects on employment
exchange relationship.
However, Benson’s research
was developed with
employees that had a
permanent contract.
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
We believe that for
temporary workers the
necessity of employment in
the future is a fundamental
need (De Cuyper & De
Witte, 2008), so we can
considerer that both actions
(promoting internal or
external employability)
relates with their affective
commitment toward the
client organization.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
H1
H5: Exhaustion
will partially mediate
H5
H3
H3:perceived
Perceived
training
as promoted
the relationship between
H1: Perceived
training
as promoted
internal
employability
is negatively
training as promoted
internal
Training for internal
internal
employability
is positively
related
to temporary
workers’
employability and temporary
workers’
employability
related
to temporary
workers’
exhaustion.
Affectivecommitm
affective commitment.
affective commitment.
Exhaustion
Training for
H4: Perceived
training
as promoted
H6: Exhaustion willH2:
partially
mediate
Perceived
training
as promoted
external
external
employability
is negatively
the relationship between
perceived
employability
external
employability
is positively
related
to temporary
workers’
training as promoted
external
related
to temporary
workers’
H6
H4
exhaustion.
employability and temporary
workers’
affective
commitment.
affective commitment.
H2
ent
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Temporary workers with
similar tasks, management
requirements and work
conditions, namely training,
than permanent workers;
Men: 53.9%; Woman:45.6%;
Younger than 30 years: 57.1%;
Between 31 and 40 years: 22.2%;
Older than 40 years: 20.7%;
Temporary workers hired
to face of market
fluctuations;
425 blue-collar
temporary agency
workers from four
Portuguese industries;
SAMPLE
Our sample represented
87.1% of temporary
agency workers’
population in these
organizations.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Affective commitment: 6
items (Meyer, Allen & Smith,
1993) already used in
another study (Chambel &
Sobral, 2011) - α=.82;
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Exhaustion: Portuguese version
of the Exhaustion scale of the
Maslach Burnout Inventory –
General Survey (Schaufeli, Leiter,
Maslach & Jackson, 1996) used in
another study (Castanheira &
Chambel, 2010) - α=.86;
Training as promoted
employability: 3 items to
assess external employability
(α=.82) and 3 to assess
internal employability (α=.71
);
Control variables:
voluntariness (- α=.73), age
and gender.
MESURES
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Structural Equation Modeling
Models
χ2
Model1
(Partialme
diation)
χ2 (152) =
475.51
Δχ2
SRMR
TLI
CFI
RMSEA
0.06
0.92
0.92
0.07
0.07
0.91
0.91
0.07
Compare
Model2
χ2 (154) = to Model 1
(Total
509.81
Δχ2 (2) =
mediation)
34.3**
Note: ** p<. 01.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications

H1 (0.44***)


H3 (- 0.47***)
H5 (Z= -2.8**)
Training for internal
employability
- 0.33**
Affectivecommitm
ent
Exhaustion
Training for
external
employability
H6
H4 (0.10 n.s.)
H2 (-0.14*)
Note: * p<.05; ** p<.01; ***; p< 00.
n.s.: non significant.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
The perception of training that promoted internal employability entails a social
exchange relationship of temporary workers, in which they answer to that positive
action with their affective commitment.
The temporary workers who considered that organization invests more in training that
promote internal employability also were those with lower exhaustion.
Our findings suggest that temporary workers’ exhaustion is a mechanism that
contributes to explain this social exchange.
The perception of training providing external employability does not relate with
affective commitment.
Perceptions related to training as a promoter of employment opportunities in another
organization can be related with commitment toward the agency (?).
Training wich promotes external employability is not an organizational practice that
contributes to lower stress of temporary workers.
Training that promotes external employability does not contribute with skills and
competences useful in actual functions and may not relate with temporary workers
strain.
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Ideas for future research
...
Multiple
measurements over time of exhaustion and
organizational commitment would have provided a more
accurate picture of the effects of training perceptions.
There are potential limitations to the generalization of the
… verify the relationship of training with both liaisons of temporary
findings due to the particularities of the relationship between
workers: agency and client organization.
these companies and their temporary agency workers.
variables
measuredbetween
with self-reported
survey
… All
verify
if there iswere
a relationship
knowledge acquisitions
measure.
and
insecurity to explaining temporary workers’ strain.
was onlythis
analyzed
the but
affective
toward
client
… Itreplicate
research
with commitment
a sample where
temporary
organizations
and differently
it was notfrom
included
the liaison
withnamely
the
workers
are treated
permanent
workers,
in agency.
training opportunities.
Pratical
Implications
Subject-Matter
Hypotheses
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Pratical
Implications
Training could have either a positive or a negative
relationship with commitment and exhaustion, depending on
the nature of perceptions about training actions and whether
temporary workers considered that actions as internal or
external employability promoters.
 Is a good option to invest in initial and ongoing training
programs designed to equip temporary workers with the skills
and knowledge they need to conduct their jobs and improve
their performance.
 Invest in human resources, whatever the link between
them and the company, contributes to an effective
employment relationship and this is vital to organizational
effectiveness as it relates with a critical attitude, namely
workers’ affective commitment.
Maria José Chambel,
Mafalda Espada &
Filipa Sobral
filipa.sobral@fp.ul.pt
*This paper was submitted at the Human Resource Management Journal.