This is an interesting topic. I believe it is worth starting conducting a research regarding the influence of psychological contract on temporary employees' organizational commitment, which will be data-directed.

I refer to book “The four mindsets: How to influence, motivate and motivate high performance team” by Anna-Lucia Mackay.

The psychological contract is more powerful than employment contract because it is based on thoughts, feelings and emotions. It unlocks potential and brings high performance. It relies on commitment from both side and relationship built.

Some of the points, Manager need to understand

· Thoughts and feelings of employees

· Being coach or mentor to employees

· Have people skills and treat all fairly

· Being trustworthy

These points are also important while managing contract employees.

This topic should be investigated because the findings so far have been mixed. While one school of thought is of the opinion that temporary employees have a transactional relationship with their organization snd so a lower organizational commitment compared with permanent employees, not all studies have supported this theory.

It is likely that such variables as culture, size of organization, type of industry, age and tenure of employees play a part in the relationship.

By definition, "a psychological contract is an employee’s perception of his or her exchange relationship with an organization, outcomes the organization has promised to provide to the employee, and contributions the employee is obligated to make to the organization". Accordingly its impact is not only limited to full-time employees, it covers everyone else. Good topic to investigate, best of luck! 

In my opinion why psychological contracts are needed as one of the supporting commitments of temporary workers at the university, because even though the positions offered to them are only temporary but in the time they join, they must contribute to the place where they work as an effort to add to the image organizations, even personally these workers also add their skills. This is like giving positive impact to individuals and organisations. They are assets for the organisation.

Definitely an interesting topic to research. Some studies associate social exchanges and organizational climate to psychological contract, so that might be something to explore. Temporary employees ideally have a different sense of commitment than regular employees, and several factors may account for that. Two things come to mind worth investigating – the organisational climate and the value of the employment to the temporary employee.

The organisational climate will determine how temporary employees are perceived and treated. This will determine the nature of the psychological contract and ultimately influence the commitment levels of the temporary employees. I also believe that the psychological contract is mediated by how much value they place on the employment arrangement, which will also affect organisational commitment. But of course, other variables may moderate the relationship, as suggested in other answers above.

Psychological contract on employees' organizational commitment is of tremendous importance for each employee, especially in University setting.

It is more important than formal legal contract.

psychological contract emerge expectations. Oftenly end up with dissapointment because one put higher expectation

This all depends on the mission and vision of the organisation. The clearer and stronger the corporate vision, the stronger the commitment of all staff (including temporary) will be. If you want commitment then they have to be engaged with a purpose, and fitted in according to their own strengths. Then it works.

Psychological contract represents an unwritten employees' expectations on their organizations. Employee emotional attachment (commitment) to the organization is contingent upon their believe that these expectations are been met. This suggests that psychological contract fulfillment promotes employee commitment.