| The most rapidly growing employment category in the United States is temporary employment---and temporary professionals are the most rapidly growing segment within this category. Temporary professionals have an increasingly important impact upon organizations, yet their contribution has been little examined in terms of organizational theory or empirical research. The purpose of this study is to develop a model to examine multiple work outcomes of temporary (i.e., contract) and full-time professionals working within the same occupation. After reviewing three theoretical perspectives that address the contract employment relationship, an agency theory model was developed to test four hypotheses. As well, several research questions relevant to the management of full-time and contract professionals were also examined.;Drawing upon data from 372 information systems (IS) professionals in eight organizations, this study empirically verified that IS contract professionals are different from IS full-time professionals. They differ both in terms of supervisory ratings of work outcomes and in terms of self-ratings of degree of incentive alignment, of perceived labor market efficiencies, and of pay perceptions. The agency model developed in this study proved to be a significant predictor of supervisor-rated outcomes for IS contractors and of self-rated organizational commitment for both IS contractors and IS full-timers. The importance of compensation as a predictor of work outcomes has been reaffirmed; but additionally, two work assignment incentives (psychological and social alignment) and two labor market efficiency scales (internal and external professional) were identified as significant predictors of work outcomes. Significant differences were also identified between contract and full-time IS professionals in their perceptions of compensation alignment, psychological alignment, and perceived efficiency of the external professional labor market. As well, contractors and full-timers differ in perception of pay fairness and in preference for direct compensation. Given these findings, future research was suggested to examine the cognitive schema used by supervisors of contract professionals, pay equity issues between contract and full-time professionals, work group cooperation among contractors and full-timers, and other topics. |
