The precarity paradox: the precarity-driven inefficiencies of research at a public university

Abstract

Precarity is often interpreted as a neoliberal management strategy to maximize profits in private companies through the endorsement of insecure jobs, inadequate wages, and limited rights for workers. This interpretation, however, is unsuitable to analyse situations where the State endorses precarity in non-profit public organizations, for example, State-sponsored universities. We hypothesize that in these situations, the ‘precarity paradox’ is particularly prone to manifest. Such a paradox can be defined as the endorsement of precarity to induce organizational productivity and flexibility that, instead, leads to overwhelming inefficiencies and productivity losses. To test this hypothesis, we conducted empirical research at the faculty of engineering of a Portuguese public university where precarious contracts are dominant among researchers. Based on the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data collected, it is concluded that productivity- and flexibility-oriented precarities reduce the productivity of researchers while jeopardizing the capacity of the faculty to rationally employ its human resources.