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The psychological contract: is the UK National Health Service a model employer?

The psychological contract: is the UK National Health Service a model employer? The UK National Health Service (NHS) is facing recruitment challenges that mean it will need to become an 'employer of choice' if it is to continue to attract high-quality employees. This paper reports the findings from a study focusing on allied health professional staff (n = 67), aimed at establishing the expectations of the NHS inherent in their current psychological contract and to consider whether the government's drive to make the NHS a model employer meets those expectations. The findings show that the most important aspects of the psychological contract were relational and based on the investment made in the employment relationship by both parties. The employment relationship was one of high involvement but also one where transactional contract items, such as pay, were still of some importance. Although the degree of employee satisfaction with the relational content of the psychological contract was relatively positive, there was, nevertheless, a mismatch between levels of importance placed on such aspects of the contract and levels of satisfaction, with employees increasingly placing greater emphasis on those items the NHS is having the greatest difficulty providing. Despite this apparent disparity between employee expectation and the fulfilment of those expectations, the overall health of the psychological contract was still high. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Health Services Management Research SAGE

The psychological contract: is the UK National Health Service a model employer?

Health Services Management Research , Volume 20 (2): 11 – May 1, 2007
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References (20)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2007 Royal Society of Medicine Press
ISSN
0951-4848
eISSN
1758-1044
DOI
10.1258/095148407780744642
pmid
17524221
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The UK National Health Service (NHS) is facing recruitment challenges that mean it will need to become an 'employer of choice' if it is to continue to attract high-quality employees. This paper reports the findings from a study focusing on allied health professional staff (n = 67), aimed at establishing the expectations of the NHS inherent in their current psychological contract and to consider whether the government's drive to make the NHS a model employer meets those expectations. The findings show that the most important aspects of the psychological contract were relational and based on the investment made in the employment relationship by both parties. The employment relationship was one of high involvement but also one where transactional contract items, such as pay, were still of some importance. Although the degree of employee satisfaction with the relational content of the psychological contract was relatively positive, there was, nevertheless, a mismatch between levels of importance placed on such aspects of the contract and levels of satisfaction, with employees increasingly placing greater emphasis on those items the NHS is having the greatest difficulty providing. Despite this apparent disparity between employee expectation and the fulfilment of those expectations, the overall health of the psychological contract was still high.

Journal

Health Services Management Research – SAGE

Published: May 1, 2007

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