Temporary Employment (temporary + employment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Temporary Employment and Strategic Staffing in the Manufacturing Sector

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2009
MATT VIDAL
While prior research has identified different ways of using temporary workers to achieve numerical flexibility, quantitative analysis of temporary employment has been limited to a few key empirical indicators of demand variability that may confound important differences. Our analysis provides evidence that many manufacturers use temporary workers to achieve what we call planned and systematic numerical flexibility rather than simply in a reactive manner to deal with unexpected problems. Although temporary work may provide many benefits for employers, a key function appears to be the provision of numerical flexibility not to buffer core workers but to externalize certain jobs. [source]


The Temporary Staffing Industry: Growth Imperatives and Limits to Contingency,

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2002
Nik Theodore
Abstract: The temporary staffing industry (TSI) in the United States has enjoyed explosive growth since the 1970s, during which time the market for temporary labor has become increasingly complex and diverse. Rather than focus, as has typically been done, on the wider labor market effects of this sustained expansion in temporary employment, this article explores patterns and processes of industrial restructuring in the TSI itself. The analysis reveals a powerfully recursive relationship among evolving TSI business practices, the industry's strategies for building and extending the market, and urban labor market outcomes as the sector has grown through a series of qualitatively differentiated phases of development or "modes of growth." Moreover, the distinctive character of the TSI's geographic rollout raises a new set of questions concerning, inter alia, the links between temping and labor market deregulation, the nature of local competition, the scope for and limits of value-adding strategies, and the emerging global structure of the temp market. This idiosyncratic industry,which has been a conspicuous beneficiary of growing economic instability,has, throughout the past three decades, restructured continuously through a period of sustained but highly uneven growth. In so doing, it has proved to be remarkably inventive in extending the market for contingent labor, but has encountered a series of (possibly structural) obstacles to further expansion in its domestic market. These obstacles, in turn, have triggered an unprecedented phase of international integration in the TSI, along with a new mode of development,global growth. [source]


Temporary Employment and Strategic Staffing in the Manufacturing Sector

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2009
MATT VIDAL
While prior research has identified different ways of using temporary workers to achieve numerical flexibility, quantitative analysis of temporary employment has been limited to a few key empirical indicators of demand variability that may confound important differences. Our analysis provides evidence that many manufacturers use temporary workers to achieve what we call planned and systematic numerical flexibility rather than simply in a reactive manner to deal with unexpected problems. Although temporary work may provide many benefits for employers, a key function appears to be the provision of numerical flexibility not to buffer core workers but to externalize certain jobs. [source]


Literature review of theory and research on the psychological impact of temporary employment: Towards a conceptual model

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 1 2008
Nele De Cuyper
The increased use of temporary contracts has instigated debates on possible implications for employees' attitudes, well-being and behaviour. The complex issues related to this debate are reviewed from a theoretical, empirical and conceptual point of view. First, the definitions of temporary employment that are currently used in OECD countries are reviewed. Second, theoretical views concerning possible determinants are elaborated. The theoretical frameworks discussed include Work Stress Theory, Social Comparison Theory and Social Exchange Theory. The determinants proposed in these theories have served to form the basis of hypotheses on differences between temporary and permanent workers on various psychological outcomes. Third, research on associations between temporary employment and the variables job satisfaction, organizational commitment, well-being and behaviour are reviewed. These variables are most frequently used in the realm of temporary work research. This review concludes that research results have been inconsistent and inconclusive, unlike the predictions that follow from the theoretical frameworks. This leads to a fourth section in which potential explanations for these inconsistent findings are advanced. In conclusion, a conceptual model is developed to inspire future research. [source]


Temporary Liaisons: The Commitment of ,Temps' Towards Their Agencies*

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 3 2005
Gerla Van Breugel
abstract The majority of research on organizational commitment has focused on commitment in traditional, ongoing and open-ended relationships. The commitment of employees in non-standard work arrangements such as temporary employment has been subject to much less theoretical and empirical investigation. In this study, we examine the affective and continuance commitment of temporary workers towards their agency and its determinants. We distinguish two groups of determinants: the process by which the temporary worker chose a particular agency and the support provided by the agency. The findings can be summarized as follows: (1) affective commitment among temps is generally higher than their continuance commitment; (2) having more alternative agencies to choose from (i.e., volition) does not enhance the commitment of temporary workers; (3) a public choice for a particular agency raises both types of commitment, whereas the perceived agency dependence created by the choice increases continuance, but not affective commitment; and (4) both types of commitment are positively influenced by agency supportiveness, reflected in the way the agency deals with problems, the career support it provides, and the way it keeps in close contact with its temporary workers. Finally, the results suggest that factors raising affective commitment may ,spill over' to increase continuance commitment. [source]