Associate consultants’ experiences of complex psychological contracts and job crafting activities

The current literature on psychological contract and job crafting has neglected the self-employed working group. A mixed method study executed through a sequential explanatory design exploring the psychological contract of self-employed associate consultants in relation to job crafting activities and stakeholder management. Study 1 (Quant), the feasibility study, executed by a questionnaire, found associate consultants have a psychological contract with their client, end-user and colleague type individuals and are expected to apply their expert skills and knowledge thus executing job crafting activities whilst on an appointment. Study 2 (Qual) was executed by semi-structured interviews and specifically explored the complexities of the psychological contract for associate consultants in maintaining relationships with various stakeholders and how this impacts their job crafting activities. The focus is about associate consultants’ relationships which involve stakeholder management rather than just the service they provide. This study identified a multi-layered psychological contract which described features of relationship and reputation management which included going above and beyond and resolving breaches immediately to ensure effective delivery, along with a host of job crafting activities that are unique to associate consultants such as collateral crafting and target relational crafting, as they are a key factors in the evolution of the multi-layered psychological contract. The results of this study can be used to ascertain how associate consultants can be managed better by consultancy firms, clients and other bodies/individuals interacting with the associate consultants and how they can better engage with stakeholders and support delivery given the level of complexity they deal with in their daily work relationships.