How agencies can cultivate social exchange in the temporary work context: an intervention study

In dynamic business environments, achieving organizational flexibility in staffing is crucial. Although staffing via agencies – intermediaries between temporary agency workers (temps) and client organizations (clients) – can improve flexibility, it presents implementation challenges. Due to the short-term nature of the work, clients and temps may hesitate to invest in beneficial social exchange that fosters temps’ integration and performance. Using social exchange theory, we argue that despite operating from a distance, agencies can facilitate social exchange. We developed and tested a nudging intervention (emails and text messages with behavioral recommendations) at an agency encouraging temps to initiate social exchange by seeking support from clients. Data from 104 temps revealed that those in the intervention group sought and received more support than in the control group. However, client support-giving depended on temps’ perceived likelihood of permanent employment at the client: temps with a high likelihood received support in response to support-seeking, whereas those with a low likelihood did not. The findings enrich social exchange theory and suggest that agencies, as third parties, can play a role in relationship-building between temps and clients. However, more orchestrated efforts may be needed to ensure that the short-term nature of assignments does not limit clients’ responses to temps’ support-seeking.