Contingent workers: Needs, personality characteristics, and work motivation

Purpose: This paper seeks to challenge the claim that traditional and non-traditional employees differ significantly in terms of their needs, personality characteristics, and work motivation patterns, by surveying management consultants in Canada. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a quantitative online survey undertaken among 204 Canadian management consultants in 2008, representing both traditional employed consultants, contingent consultants, and company representatives. Findings: The study demonstrated no significant differences with regard to needs, motivation, and personality characteristics between traditional and non-traditional employed management consultants, which means that no significant changes to existing human resource management policies seem to be needed. Originality/value: The existing literature on contingent employees' needs, personality characteristics and work motivation has mainly been devoted to the study of differences between traditional and non-traditional work arrangements seen as single groups. This study extends and complements the understanding of the underlying dimensions of both the explicit and the implicit contract within the contingent management consultant-organization relationship in order to explain the influence of these dimensions on the human resource management strategies. The underlying assumption is that non-traditional work arrangements vary according to the type of job and the context in which the job is performed.