To Be or Not to be Temp? An Analysis of the Moderating Role of Motives for Accepting Temporary Employment

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1522
• Author: Alessandro Lo Presti,Sara Pluviano,Antonino Callea
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019

To Be or Not to be Temp? An Analysis of the

Moderating Role of Motives for Accepting

Temporary Employment

Alessandro Lo Presti*

University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli

Antonino Callea

LUMSA University

Sara Pluviano

Suor Orsola Benincasa University; University of Edinburgh

Abstract

We investigate the role of contract volition and motives for

accepting temporary employment in the relationship be-

tween precariousness of life and negative psychological

symptoms in a sample of 275 Italian temps. Results suggest

that the negative effect of contract volition on negative psy-

chological symptoms is partially mediated by precarious-

ness of life. A moderated mediation model shows that

specif‌ic motives moderate the negative effects of contract vo-

lition on precariousness of life, so that when contract voli-

tion is higher, workers with weaker motives feel less

precarious. This study broadens our understanding of tem-

porary employment outcomes by showing that the negative

consequences of precariousness of life seem to be less trou-

blesome among temporary workers with higher contract vo-

lition and lower motivation. © 2018 ASAC. Published by

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: temporary employment, precariousness of life,

motives, contract volition, negative psychological symptoms

Résumé

Dans un échantillon de 275 intérimaires italiens, nous

étudions le rôle que l’envie d’avoir un contrat et les mobiles

qui sous-tendent l’acceptation d’un emploi temporaire

jouent dans la relation entre la précarité de la vie et les

symptômes psychologiques négatifs. Les résultats suggèrent

que l’effet négatif que l’envie d’avoir un contrat exerce sur

les symptômes psychologiques négatifs modère

partiellement la précarité de la vie. Un modèle de médiation

modérée montre que les motivations spécif‌iques modèrent

les effets négatifs de l’envie d’avoir un contrat sur la

précarité de la vie, de sorte que lorsque celle-là est plus

élevée, les travailleurs aux motivations plus faibles se

sentent moins précaires. L’étude nous permet de mieux

cerner les effets des emplois temporaires en montrant que

les conséquences négatives de la précarité de la vie seraient

moins gênantes pour les travailleurs temporaires ayant une

plus grande envie d’avoir un contrat et une motivation

moindre. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons,

Ltd.

Mots-clés: emplois temporaires; précarité de la vie; moti-

vations; envie d’avoir un contrat; symptômes

psychologiques négatifs.

Introduction

The increased use of temporary employment arrange-

ments, including temporary work agencies and casual, sea-

sonal, and on-call work, represents one of the most striking

changes in Western working life since the late 1970s

(Dastmalchian & Blyton, 2001). The number of people

who feel trapped in this type of employment continues to

grow (albeit more slowly) and to be the subject of much de-

bate, mostly in relation to the negative long-term conse-

quences of precariousness of employment at the individual

level (De Cuyper et al., 2008; Nunez & Livanos, 2015). Al-

though the term precariousness of employment has become

common among scholars, its def‌inition remains vague.

Recalling the def‌inition of the International Labour Organi-

zation (2012, p. 27), precarious employment “is usually de-

f‌ined by uncertainty as to the duration of employment,

*Please address correspondence to: Alessandro Lo Presti, Department of

Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Viale Ellittico, 31,

81100, Caserta, Italy. Email: alessandro.lopresti@unicampania.it

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

Published online in 27 December 2018 Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1522

36: 473–483 (2019)

Can J Adm Sci

© 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 36(4), 473–483 (2019)473