Contract employment policy and research productivity of knowledge workers: an analysis of Spanish universities |
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Authors: | Esteban Lafuente Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Management, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona Tech), Barcelona, Spainesteban.lafuente@upc.eduhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5889-7656;3. Department of Economy and Business Organization, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spainhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5145-2179 |
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Abstract: | AbstractThis 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. |
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Keywords: | Contract employment knowledge workers research scientists universities research productivity |
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