A qualitative study on the investigation of academics' employment relations from work-family based psychological contract perspective

In this study, the employment relations between academics and their universities were examined from the perspective of work-family-based psychological contracts. A literature review was conducted on the interaction between academicians' work life and their family life, and as the result of this evaluation; it is assumed that academics will develop work-family based psychological contracts with their institutions/institution representatives in order to reduce the work-family conflict levels and achieve work-family balance. It was aimed to understand the nature and scope of work-family-based psychological contracts between academics and their universities. To achieve this goal, a basic qualitative research has been designed. In deciding the participant group of the study, purposeful sampling approach was adopted, and maximum variation sampling technique and snowball sampling technique were used together within the scope of the purposeful sampling approach. The participant group of the study consisted of 18 academicians, including 12 research assistants and six assistant professors. Twelve of the participants were women, and six were men, and they attended seven different universities in Turkey. The data from participants were obtained through semi-structured interviews developed by the researcher under the guidance of the relevant literature. The data were analyzed using the "Focused Analysis of Qualitative Interviews" (Rädiker & Kuckartz, 2020) technique. As a result of the data analysis, it was found that academics perceive these agreements (work-family-based psychological contracts) as; sensitive to the family domain, involving high-quality employee-organization relations and open to the subjective judgements of the parties. The contents of work-family based psychological contract presented to employees by their institution/institution representatives are as follows for the participant group of this study; providing flexibility in terms of day offs, unsolicited support, flexibility in evening classes, flexibility in work hours, flexibility in exam assignments, flexibility in workload, flexibility in weekend classes/exams, being tolerant for work performance. Academicians, on the other hand, reciprocate to their institutions/institution representatives by; keeping on doing their best, trying to do the job in the best way, volunteering, completing assignments in a shorter time, working outside of working hours, trying to don't hurt or refuse someone and not to betray the trust to them. When the expressions of the participants were examined, it was observed that very few participants experienced or perceived work-family-based psychological contract breaches.