The uncertainty challenge of contingent collaboration

• Author: Jennifer Claire Auer,Stephanie D. Teasley,Libby Hemphill,Erik W. Johnston,Chen‐Yu Kao
• Published date: 01 November 2014
• Date: 01 November 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12045

The uncertainty challenge of contingent

collaboration

Jennifer Claire Auer, Optimal Solutions Group, LLC

Chen-Yu Kao, School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University

Libby Hemphill, Lewis College of Human Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology

Erik W. Johnston, Center for Policy Informatics, Arizona State University

Stephanie D. Teasley, School of Information, University of Michigan

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 24, no 4, 2014, pages 531–547

Contingent knowledge workers will play an increasingly important role in organisational success as

workers transition in and out of project-based innovation teams with more frequency. Our research

finds that collaborators in the contingent, high-skill workforce face uncertainty challenges to their

work that are unique from the independent, contingent professionals more often studied. The article

proposes a theoretical framework of uncertainty to guide us in understanding collaborative contingent

knowledge workers’ work experience. Interviews with postdoctoral researchers reveal four findings

about the influence of these highly uncertain work environments on collaborative contingent

knowledge workers – collaboration isolation, frustrated independence, performance anxiety and

internalised blame. Perhaps most concerning is that the workers internalise the negative impacts as

personal failings instead of recognising them as consequences of a poorly designed work environment.

This study argues for the need to manage and mitigate different sources of uncertainty to avoid

creating an unnecessary burden on contingent knowledge workers, and to enable a sustainable,

contingent knowledge workforce.

Contact: Dr Jennifer Claire Auer, Optimal Solutions Group, 5825 University Research Court,

Suite 2800, College Park, MD 20740, USA. Email: jauer@optimalsolutionsgroup.com

Keywords: contingent workers; knowledge workers; uncertainty

INTRODUCTION

Contingent work arrangements are widespread in knowledge-intensive and

innovation-related industries. For highly skilled professionals who prefer to bounce

from organisation to organisation, the arrangements seem well suited. Unlike the

low-skill contingent workforce, the popular image of a highly skilled contingent worker is that

of a chosen ‘boundaryless’ career (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996), a ‘protean’ worker (Marvis and

Hall, 1996) who is proactively self-directed, flexible and versatile, driven by personal values,

and overall highly satisfied with his/her work (Marler et al., 2002). However, a number of

empirical studies also reveal that contingent professionals’ work experience is not without

contradiction, especially as it relates to the uncertainty of contingent work arrangements

(Barley, 1996; Clinton etal., 2006; Redpath et al., 2009a).

The rise of a variety of short-term collaborative work processes adds additional complexity

to the work life of contingent professionals. Their work is distinctly knowledge-based, meaning

that workers actively engage in the creation and application of original content rather than in

routine tasks (Benson and Brown, 2007). However, unlike independent knowledge workers, the

value added in collaborative innovation work is a collective attribute that requires full

participation from a group. Both the process of knowledge creation and the process of

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doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12045

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 24 NO 4, 2014 531

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Auer, J.C., Kao, C.-Y., Hemphill, L., Johnston, E.W. and Teasley, S.D. (2014) ‘The uncertainty challenge of

contingent collaboration’. Human Resource Management Journal 24: 4, 531–547.

collaboration signify different aspects of uncertainty embedded in collaborative knowledge

work.

Temporary innovation teams are not new in organisations (Fiore, 2008; Lepak and Snell,

2003). What is new is that employers increasingly draw on individual contingent workers for

temporary assignments, rather than create temporary teams from workers within organisations

(Chesbrough, 2006; Koch et al., 2011; Kinnie and Swart, 2012). The status of being contingent

compounds the uncertainty that surrounds collaboration and knowledge creation, and places

the workers in a work experience about which human resource management (HRM) scholars

know little.

This study asks how the heightened uncertainty found at the intersection of collaborative

and contingent knowledge work influences the work experience of knowledge workers. This

type of worker is defined in this study as a Collaborative Contingent Knowledge Worker

(CCKW). Different aspects of uncertainty serve as the theoretical framework for us to

understand workers’ experiences. Currently, the most recognisable workforce of this type is

postdoctoral researchers (postdocs). Therefore, in this study, the postdocs’ work experience is

assessed and a grounded theory of uncertainty in CCKW is proposed. The goal of this study

is ultimately to provide managers with important information about how to manage worker

uncertainty to promote positive work experiences (Lind and Van den Bos, 2002; Thau et al.,

2009).

CCKWs

The contingent knowledge work continuum

CCKWs do not fit neatly into prior typologies of contingent work. To define the CCKW

population, this article pairs two continuums (Figure 1). The first continuum describes

contingent work. One of the broadest and earliest definitions of contingent work was offered

by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which defined contingent work as ‘any job in which an

individual does not have an explicit or implicit contract for long-term employment or one in

which the minimum hours worked can vary in a nonsystematic manner’ (Polivka and Nardone,

1989: 11). A variety of working arrangements, however, can fall under the umbrella of

Figure 1 Types of contingent knowledge work

Collaborative knowledge work

Independent knowledge work

Administratively

detached work attached work

Administratively

Postdocs

(CCKWs)

Business

consultant

Travelling

physician

Industry

research lab

The uncertainty challenge of contingent collaboration

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© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.