Employees in change: an exploration of academics’ perceived employee-organisation relationship in the reform of the tenure-track system in China
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AbstractThe employee-organisation relationship between academics and universities is a critical issue in higher education (HE) human resource management. Previous studies have mainly investigated the segmentation between full-time and part-time academics, or academics working in different countries. However, few studies have explored academics' perceptions of their relationship with universities under the recent tenure-track reform in the Chinese HE system. Drawing on psychological contract theory, this qualitative study explores how academics perceive their relationships with their university. Through interviews with 21 tenure-track academics at a Chinese university, this study found four types of psychological relationships: (1) high-risk with high-yield, (2) optimistic trust, (3) mutual benefit, and (4) content and satisfied. Among the four types, tenure-track academics' expectations of universities are diversified. These findings suggest that universities should pay more attention to understanding academics' perceived employee-organisation relationship and their corresponding expectations to improve managerial efficiency.
Acceptance Date23/11/2023
All Author(s) ListTaoli Wang, Lingyun Yu, Wenjing Wang, Kun Dai
Journal nameStudies in Higher Education
Year2023
PublisherRoutledge
ISSN0307-5079
LanguagesEnglish-United Kingdom
Keywordstenure-track academics, psychological contract, employee-organisation relationship, human resource management, Chinese higher education