Relative deprivation of temporary agency workers in the public sector: The role of public service motivation and the possibility of standard employment

• Date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12186
• Author: Sung‐Chul Noh,Ilju Kim,Heung‐Jun Jung
• Published date: 01 July 2018

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Relative deprivation of temporary agency workers

in the public sector: The role of public service

motivation and the possibility of standard

employment

Heung‐Jun Jung

1

|Sung‐Chul Noh

2

|Ilju Kim

3

1

Korea Labor Institute

2

Graduate School of Humanities and Social

Sciences, Saitama University

3

International Graduate School of Accounting

Policy, Tohoku University

Correspondence

Sung‐Chul Noh, Graduate School of

Humanities and Social Sciences, Saitama

University, 255 Shimo‐Okubo, Sakura‐ku,

Saitama City, Saitama 338‐8570, Japan.

Email: scnoh@mail.saitama‐u.ac.jp

Funding information

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science,

Grant/Award Number: JP16K17159

Abstract

Although public service organisations have increasingly relied on

nonstandard employees, little research has investigated their work

experiences and job attitudes. This paper examines the mechanism

by which temporary agency workers' experience of relative depriva-

tion affects their organisational attachment toward their client firm

in the public sector. Based on data collected from temporary help

agencies working with an international airport in Korea, we found

that the perceived likelihood of standard employment mediated

the negative relationship of relative deprivation to organisational

attachment. Moreover, the indirect relationship of relative depriva-

tion with organisational attachment via perceived likelihood of stan-

dard employment was strong and significant among those with high

public service motivation but was not significant for those with low

public service motivation. We discuss the implications of this study

in building a better understanding of relative deprivation and non-

standard work arrangements in the public sector.

KEYWORDS

organisationalattachment, public service motivation,relative

deprivation, temporary agency work

1|INTRODUCTION

Nonstandard work arrangements have grown in popularity among employers in many countries over the last two

decades, as they have sought to enhance their capability to adapt swiftly to ever‐changing technological and eco-

nomic contexts. In particular, employers in industrialised countries have been strategically replacing positions formerly

occupied by regular workers with temporary agency workers (TAWs), engendering tremendous growth of the tempo-

rary help industry (Svensson, Vinberg, & Larsson, 2015). The challenge of temporary work for human resource man-

agement (HRM) is to reconcile the need for flexibility with respect to TAWs' involvement and commitment, which,

Received: 27 March 2016 Revised: 15 October 2017 Accepted: 21 December 2017

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12186

410 © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Hum Resour Manag J. 2018;28:410–426.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj

according to previous research, tend to be lower than those of directly hired workers (Flickinger, Allscher, & Fiedler,

2016; Mitlacher, 2007; Ward, Grimshaw, Rubery, & Beynon, 2001).

Tackling these seemingly contradictory needs has gained even greater importance in the public sector, where

TAWs are increasingly taking on frontline roles in public service delivery (PSCC, 2010; Runge, Hudson‐Sharp, & Rolfe,

2017; Verma & Gomes, 2015). Growing reliance on externalised work arrangements has been legitimised and rein-

forced in the name of financial accountability and efficiency in public administration (Conley, 2002; de Ruyter,

Kirkpatrick, Hoque, Lonsdale, & Malan, 2008; Noblet, Teo, McWilliams, & Rodwell, 2005). In an effort to understand

the workplace‐level impacts of the rising proportion of nonstandard workers, several studies have examined how reg-

ular public employees respond to employment restructuring practices (Bach & Kessler, 2007; Thomas & Davies, 2005).

We argue that it is equally important to explore the potential factors and mechanisms affecting the work attitudes of

TAWs, who now make up a significant portion of the workforce in public service organisations.

The extant literature on nonstandard work arrangements has explored the specific features of the HRM system,

which may partially offset the exploitative nature of these work arrangements and may thereby mitigate their negative

attitudinal and performance consequences (Mitlacher, 2007). Although a range of HRM features has been suggested,

including the provisions of training and compensation comparable to standard workers, job security, and enrichment,

the specific focus of this article is on the mobility from temporary to standard employment arrangements, which have

been highlighted as a superseding characteristic of the HRM process and may improve the job quality of TAWs

(Broschak, Davis‐Blake, & Block, 2008). Departing from previous studies, which have tended to adopt a content‐spe-

cific, normative approach, the current investigation is designed to develop a process‐based understanding of the deter-

minants and consequences of TAWs' perceived likelihood of standard employment (PLoSE).

Specifically, we draw upon the notion of relative deprivation as the antecedent of TAWs' PLoSE. Public service

organisations have long been portrayed as the model employer, setting the standards for quality jobs, such as a

decent wage, benefits, and a high degree of job security, for private firms to emulate. Therefore, TAWs in the pub-

lic sector, deprived of such qualities, are likely to engage in constant social comparison with their colleagues or

superiors in regular positions, especially when they weigh up mobility opportunities to enter the primary internal

labour market of a client firm. Subsequently, building upon insights from the literature on the psychological con-

tract, we hypothesise that PLoSE will positively relate to the attachment of TAWs to a client firm. Furthermore,

we incorporate into our research model a motivation that is peculiar to public service work, public service motiva-

tion (PSM). We examine how agency workers' PSM interacts with PLoSE in shaping their organisational attachment.

The contributions of our study are twofold. First, our paper develops a process‐oriented and contextualised

understanding of TAWs' attachment to a client organisation. Given that the relationship between TAWs and a client

firm is transitory and uncertain, extant theories suggest that TAWs are likely to have lower levels of attachment to a

client firm. However, prior empirical research has revealed inconsistent results on the psychological impact of non-

standard employment (George & Chattopadhyay, 2005; Parker, Griffin, Sprigg, & Wall, 2002; Van Dyne & Ang,

1998). Moreover, few studies have investigated the mechanism that shapes TAWs' attachment to their client firm

in the public sector. By incorporating PSM into our theoretical model, we explore how the work motivation of pursu-

ing higher public value versus material interests may affect organisational attachment.

Second, we also add to the large body of research on relative deprivation in nonstandard employment. Previous

studies have suggested that relative deprivation is associated with a range of negative psychological outcomes, includ-

ing low self‐efficacy and low job satisfaction (Smith, Pettigrew, Pippin, & Bialosiewicz, 2012). However, relatively little

attention has been paid to intervening processes in the relationship between relative deprivation and ensuing nega-

tive outcomes (Cho, Lee, & Kim, 2014). Taking into consideration the mediating role of PLoSE allows us to examine

how employees' perceptions of future amelioration regarding the status quo are intertwined with felt deprivation.

In addition, our study offers theoretical and practical implications for ways in which public organisations may buffer

the potential negative impact of their growing reliance on contingent work arrangements. Many scholars point out

that the financial gains anticipated through the use of contingent workers could be outweighed by the adverse pro-

ductivity effects of higher turnover and lower levels of organisational commitment (Hopkins, 2014). By identifying

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