The unintended consequences of the pandemic on non-pandemic research activities.

Research about the Covid-19 pandemic has taken center stage in shaping the work of many scholars, inter alia highlighting the importance of research in addressing the grand challenges humanity faces. However, the pandemic has also ushered in increased administrative, teaching and out of work commitments for many researchers, leading to concerns that academics will become less willing to invest time in obtaining resources to undertake non-Covid-related projects. Using a large-scale survey of business, economics and management researchers, coupled with their publication histories and additional institutional data, we examine how far individuals experienced the focus on the pandemic as 'crowding out' interest in, and undermining their confidence in applying for grants for work not focused on the pandemic. We found 40% of the sample agree that the pandemic has impaired their confidence in applying for non-pandemic-related grants and 'crowded out' other projects. Researchers with current and prior grants, particularly those with the most experience of holding grants, scholars whose work 'impacted' beyond academia, and early career researchers, disproportionately considered themselves to be most affected. We also found that researchers' perceptions differed based on institutional characteristics. We discuss the implications of these findings for grant providers and national research agencies as well as for individual academic researchers and the institutions in which they work.

Contingencies of Contingent Employment: Psychological Contract, Job Insecurity and Employability of Contracted Workers / Contingencias del Empleo Contingente: Contrato Psicológico, Inseguridad en el Puesto y Empleabilidad de los Trabajadores Contratados

Drawing on psychological contract literature, the present study examines the emerging contingent employment relationships, which involve the contracted workers, the employment agency and the client organization on whose premises these employees work. This sample includes eighty-eight white-collar employees working for four Portuguese agencies. The results suggest that the perceived fulfillment of client’s obligations relates positively to the perceived fulfillment of agency’s obligations and that these constructs are independent of one another. Furthermore, as expected, we have found that the perception of job insecurity relates negatively to the fulfillment of agency’s obligations. No relationship was found between employability and the perceived fulfillment of client’s obligations. The results have implications for practitioner sand future research (AU)

Basándonos en la literatura del contrato psicológico, el presente estudio examina la emergencia de relaciones de empleo contingentes, que implican a los trabajadores contratados, la agencia de empleo y la organización cliente en cuyas instalaciones trabajan los empleados. Esta muestra incluye 88 empleados de oficina, que trabajan para cuatro agencias portuguesas. Los resultados sugieren que el cumplimiento percibido de las obligaciones del cliente se relaciona positivamente con el cumplimiento percibido de las obligaciones de la agencia y que estos constructores son independientes uno de otro. Además,como se esperaba, hemos encontrado que la percepción de inseguridad en el trabajo se relaciona negativamente con el cumplimiento de las obligaciones de la agencia. No se encontraron relaciones entre la empleabilidad y el cumplimiento percibido de obligaciones del cliente. Los resultados tienen implicaciones para la práctica y la investigación futura (AU)