Independent professionals and the potential for HRM innovation

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine "black box" links between HRM innovations and organizational performance by investigating the perspective of a workforce often excluded from the HR realm. Professional Independent Contractors (IPros) play a vital role in achieving workforce flexibility and innovation. While the use of such arrangements has been examined often using a compliance-oriented lens, the authors explore the value of adding a commitment aspect. Design/methodology/approach-In total, 375 IPros working in Australian organizations completed an online questionnaire distributed by a national business support services provider. Findings-Results show organizational support significantly predicted work engagement and affective commitment. Self-efficacy, age and gender were also significant predictors. Research limitations/implications-The cross-sectional nature of this study and reliance on self-reported data limit the reliability of the findings. In addition, the findings may be specific to the Australian labor market. Practical implications-The study present the views of a difficult to reach population and the findings suggest by adopting an innovative hybrid commitment-compliance HR configuration, practitioners may positively increase desirable contractor outcomes. Social implications-Concerns that organizational imperatives for efficiency, quality and high performance will be compromised by considering the human side of non-employee work arrangements are not supported. Indeed, as previously outlined, much of the concern with the employee/non-employee dichotomy is legally based and an artefact of a system of labor law that in many settings has failed to move with the times. Originality/value-Few investigations of the impact of high commitment HRM practices have incorporated the perspective of professional, non-employees. While IPros are recipients of compliance focused contractor management practices, carefully integrated commitment-based HRM aspects have the potential to deliver positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations.

Autonomy at work in the gig economy: analysing work status, work content and working conditions of independent professionals

“…At a managerial level, our matrix paves the way to new HR practices, taking into account the diversity of dimensions embedded in each individual situation. The future of career management in temporary organisations (Burke and Morley, ), more and more referred to as ‘blended’ workforce management (Camuffo and De Stefano, ; McKeown and Cochrane, ) will be based on the ability of HR managers to grasp the various and changing ways through which independent professionals look for and enact autonomy at work, in order to provide them with specific and appropriate answers. By doing so, client organisations are probably led to renew their traditional career management practices.…”

Emerging Forms of Precariousness Related to Autonomy at Work: Toward an Empirical Typology

“…Indeed, some organizations tend to develop such a "high road strategy" (Gautié and Schmitt, 2010) with Ipros, in order to build a genuine partnership with them due to the uniqueness of their human capital (Lepak and Snell, 1999). In line with previous research (Koene and van Riemsdijk, 2005;Coyle-Shapiro et al, 2006), a survey among 375 Ipros working in a large range of Australian organizations (McKeown and Cochrane, 2017) showed that organizational support-offered either by client organizations or labor market intermediaries-significantly predicts their affective commitment, which reinforces their potential contribution to organizational performances. Workers from Supported Ipros, who enjoy higher levels of autonomy on work content and working conditions while benefiting from more organizational support are also amongst the most satisfied with their working conditions and their self-employment situation.…”

Independent professionals as talent: Evidence from individual views of working as a contractor

“…These two factors consistently emerge as constraints to optimal work performance (Hacker, 2019; van Vuuren, de Jong, & Smulders, 2019). The characteristics of emotional stability, an internal locus of control and high self‐efficacy have been identified as essential to their ability to leverage their talent in ways that contribute to their clients' organizational success (Bögenhold & Klinglmair, 2016; McKeown & Cochrane, 2017). This provides the background for addressing our second key question on the way IPros maintain their strategic value and uniqueness beyond the exclusion/inclusion tension.…”

“…Accounting for between 6 and 16% of the workforce of most developed nations (ABS, 2018; ONS, 2019; Pofeldt, 2019; Semenza & Pichault, 2019), it is a workforce made of skilled contractors such as interpreters, consultants, interim managers, and IT specialists through to all kinds of creative workers belonging to unregulated professions (Leighton & McKeown, 2015). While such individuals represent a significant segment of the global labor market, they are often purposefully excluded from the remit of the TM function (Bamber, Bartram, & Stanton, 2017; McKeown & Cochrane, 2017; Wilkinson, Bacon, Snell, & Lepak, 2019).…”