Perceptions of the contemporary academic employment relationship

This article provides some insights into how a small group of academic staff, working within a college of higher education, experience their academic employment. It focuses particularly upon how they respond to their perceptions of their work and how they are managed, at a time when psychological contracts are threatened as a result of managerial attempts to intensify work and reduce professional autonomy. Four principal responses - exit, reinterpretation of the effort-reward bargain, self-development and conformity - are discussed. The conclusion considers implications for the management of the academic employment relationship.