Academic credentials (for those who care about such things)
My research on psychological contracts in organisational psychology has gathered 450+ citations over the past 25+ years. The main paper—co-authored with Lynne Millward at the University of Surrey—explored how temporary employment contracts reshape the psychological relationship between workers and organisations.
For context: most academic papers never break 10 citations. Many gather zero. Getting into the hundreds means the work contributed something that other researchers found useful enough to build on.
450 citations won’t get you a Nobel Prize, but it’s solid evidence that the research mattered to people studying organisational behaviour, commitment, and the changing nature of work.
Here’s what’s more interesting than the number itself: the paper was published in 1998, and researchers are still citing it in 2025. That’s unusual. Most papers get cited heavily for a few years, then fade. This one keeps getting referenced because the questions it asked—about what happens to loyalty and commitment when organisations stop promising security—turned out to be increasingly relevant as the employment landscape shifted.
The work explored whether people on temporary contracts form different psychological relationships with their employers than permanent workers do. Turns out they do. Temporary workers tend towards transactional thinking—”I’ll do the work, you’ll pay me”—rather than relational thinking—”we’re in this together long-term.”
That finding holds up across industries and countries, which is why people keep citing it.
I moved on from academic research decades ago. These days I write books, counsel people, and explore what happens when you change your environment rather than endlessly optimising yourself. But the citations remain, evidence that questioning conventional assumptions about work and commitment struck a chord with people studying those same questions.
Millward, L. J., & Hopkins, L. J. (1998). Psychological Contracts, Organizational and Job Commitment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 1530-1556
Millward, L.J., & Hopkins, L.J. (1998). Organizational Commitment and the Psychological Contract. Journal of Social and Applied Psychology. 28(16) 16-31
Millward, L.J. & Hopkins, L.J. (1997). A psychological contract and identification model of risk ownership. International Journal of Project and Business Risk Management. July, 111-120
Hopkins, L.J., & Millward, L.J. (1997). Measuring Information Performance. Invited paper presented at the Maximising Information Performance (Euromapping) Conference, June 2-3rd, 1997, London
Millward, L.J., & Hopkins, L.J. (1997). Organisational Commitment and the Psychological Contract. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference at The Edinburgh Conference Centre, April 1997
Hopkins, L.J., & Millward, L.J. (1997). Perceptions of the employment contract: core and peripheral workers. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference at The Edinburgh Conference Centre, April 1997
Millward, L.J., & Hopkins, L.J. (1996) Organisational Change and the psychological contract. Interactive poster presentation at the XXVI International Congress in Psychology, Montreal, August 16-21, 1996
Hopkins, L.J. (2008) 3D virtual environments: businesses are ready but are our ‘digital natives’ prepared for the changing landscape? Proceedings of the 25th Annual ASCILITE Conference, Melbourne, Victoria.
- B.Sc. (Hons) Applied Psychology & Sociology, University of Surrey, UK, specialising in Social Psychology;
- Diploma of Management Studies, Brunel University, UK;
- Masters of Counselling Practice, Tabor College, Adelaide, South Australia, specialising in CBT, ACT, Grief & Loss, and help for military veterans re-entering civilian life;
- Master of Creative Writing & Communication, Tabor College, Adelaide, South Australia (in final year).