Contract employment policy and research productivity of knowledge workers: an analysis of Spanish universities
Publication date
2017-05-05ISSN
1466-4399
Abstract
This article investigates how contract employment practices adopted by universities—fixed-term contracts and permanent contracts—impact research productivity measured in terms of publications in scholarly journals. The empirical application considers the Spanish public higher education system for the period 2002–2008. We report an inverse U-shaped relationship between the rate fixed-term contracts and the research productivity of Spanish universities. That is, contract policies based on fixed-term contracts are conducive to research productivity; however, beyond a critical threshold value increases in the proportion of fixed-term contracts are associated with declining research productivity. These findings reveal that contract employment policies shape research productivity, and that flexible and balanced contract practices are critical for enhancing universities’ research productivity. The results suggest that the excessive use of fixed-term contracts might create an unstable working environment that limits the universities’ capacity to capitalize on their knowledge workers. Policy implications and future research avenues are discussed.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Accepted version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
33 - Economics. Economic science
Keywords
Contractes de treball
Labor contract
Relacions laborals
Industrial relations
Universitats
Universities and colleges
Investigació
Research
Contratos de trabajo
Relaciones laborales
Investigación
Pages
35
Publisher
Routledge
Is part of
The International Journal of Human Resource Management
Citation
Lafuente González, Esteban Miguel; Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina. «Contract employment policy and research productivity of knowledge workers: an analysis of Spanish universities». The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2017. Disponible en: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09585192.2017.1323226?scroll=top&needAccess=true>. Fecha de acceso: 17 jun. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1323226
Grant agreement number
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/ECO2013-48496-C4-4-R
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/