Eigenverantwortung als Element eines neuen psychologischen Vertrages

As a result of work flexibilisation, employers increasingly demand from their employees to assume selfresponsibility. New psychological contracts, which emerge in the process of work flexbilisation, mirror this development. The present study analyses the relevance of self-responsibility in the employer perspective on psychological contracts in 14 companies in Switzerland. Each of the contracts corresponds to one of three contract types which drastically, moderately or conservatively diverge from the traditional contract offering employment security. With respect to the contents of self-responsibility, entrepreneurship and employee flexibility, the differences between the contracts are small. Within the companies these contract contents appear to be unbalanced, as high demands but few offers are made. In order to compensate this imbalance, psychological contracts should be actively managed and clearly communicated. Human resource measures should provide general conditions that employees can assume self-responsibility.