Probationary or Second-Class Citizens? Postdoctoral Experiences in the Swiss Context

International audienceIrrespective of national and disciplinary specicities (Le Feuvre et al 2018), the conditions of entry to an academic career are generally recognized as being increasingly selective in the contemporary context. In the competition for a reduced number of stable or permanent academic positions, recently qualied PhD graduates who want to pursue an academic career face two main challenges. On the one hand, they have to accept a succession of xed-term, often part-time and badly paid, precarious positions (generically designated as ?postdocs ?), that have become a prerequisite for selection to more stable and permanent positions in the global academic labour market. On the second hand, access to these positions usually requires some form of geographical ? usually transnational ? mobility, which removes them from their existing social networks. In this chapter, we propose to analyse the eects of the combination of precarious employment positions and geographical displacement on the gendered citizenship experiences of postdocs working in a specic academic context. On the basis of qualitative (biographical interview) and quantitative (on-line web survey) data collected in the course of the GARCIA project (www.garciaproject.eu), we will examine the citizenship challenges faced by postdocs from across the globe who are working in the Swiss academic context

Are you attracted? Do you remain? Meta-analytic evidence on flexible work practices

Abstract This meta-analysis investigates how three flexible work practices (FWPs), flexible work schedules, telecommuting and sabbaticals, affect organizational attractiveness for job seekers and the organizational attachment of employees. Based on organizational support theory and signalling theory, we conjecture that anticipated organizational support mediates the positive relationship between FWPs and organizational attractiveness. Applying the conservation of resources theory, we suggest that FWPs increase organizational attachment through increased perceived autonomy. Meta-analytic results based on 68 studies and 52,738 employees indicate that FWPs increase organizational attractiveness and that the positive effects are partially mediated by anticipated organizational support. We also find that flexible work schedules and sabbaticals (but not telecommuting) increase organizational commitment and that all FWPs decrease turnover intention. Furthermore, these effects are partially mediated by perceived autonomy. Implications for practice and future research are discussed