Manifesting the academic psychological contract

Alan Johnston

doi:10.59400/apr.v3i1.390

Manifesting the academic psychological contract

Alan Johnston York Business School, York St John University, York YO31 7EX, UK

Ariticle ID: 390

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.59400/apr.v3i1.390

Keywords: academics; psychological contract; discretionary effort; autonomy; managerialism; academic citizenship

Abstract

The level of research undertaken on the academic psychological contract, and its influence on academics’ behaviour is limited. This paper seeks to consider the academic psychological contract, by reviewing its manifestation within the role and the influence on their undertaking of the role. Particularly important is academics’ interpretation of the role and what they consider important. Within this, the paper considers in-role and extra-role activities and what may be the grey areas in which time is spent. The research adopts the combined usage of phenomenology with interpretivist processes to investigate the insights of eighteen academics at nine UK University Business Schools. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data to consider the constructs’ manifestation. Key aspects of behaviour were identified as discretionary effort autonomy and managerialism, with links to academic citizenship.

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Published

2024-02-05

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Johnston, A. (2024). Manifesting the academic psychological contract. Applied Psychology Research, 3(1), 390. https://doi.org/10.59400/apr.v3i1.390

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Manifesting the academic psychological contract