Abstract
This empirical study seeks to explore alternative psychological contract creation of individual academics with other actors and different organisations in their career ecosystem to tackle work tensions, drawing on the theoretical framework developed from two theories, psychological contract and career ecosystem. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 academics in Vietnamese universities. This study offers a threefold contribution. First, it enhances the literature of psychological contract in exploring and explaining why employees still stay with the organisations in case of unfulfilled psychological contracts with their employers. Second, the utilisation of two theories, psychological contract and career ecosystem, deepens our understanding of how academics solve work tensions in the interactions with different actors and organisations in the extreme dynamic academic career. Third, the study highlights the role of line managers in delivering efficient managerialist practices by working with academics to resolve their career tensions.