Broken promises: Equity sensitivity as a moderator between psychological contract breach and employee attitudes and behavior (original) (raw)
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Breach and Fulfillment of the Psychological Contract: A Comparison of Traditional and Expanded Views
Personnel Psychology, 2003
Breach and fulfillment in a psychological contract has traditionally been studied with approaches that are conceptually and methodologically limited. We compared predictions derived from the traditional view to predictions from an expanded view that maintains the distinction between promised and delivered inducements and examines their joint relationship with employee satisfaction. The traditional and expanded views were compared using longitudinal data and polynomial regression analysis. Results provided little support for the traditional view. In contrast, results supported the expanded view and revealed that relationships for breach and fulfillment are more complex than previously suggested. Specifically, satisfaction depended on whether breach represented deficient or excess inducements and the particular inducement under consideration. Moreover, satisfaction was more strongly related to delivered inducements than promised inducements. These results question basic tenets of psyc...
Values underlying perceptions of breach of the psychological contract
SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 2010
Orientation: This study identifies the most prominent breaches of the psychological contract and the values underlying the perceptions that violations have occurred.Research purpose: The study identifies the most important breaches and investigates which values underlie employee perceptions of breach of the psychological contract. It also addresses values that lead to employees interpreting incidents as breaches.Motivation for the study: The study calls on the fact that employees make inconsequential contributions to the terms of many formal employment contracts may imply that such contracts cannot be viewed as documents between equals.Research design, approach and method: The study identifies the most prominent breaches of the psychological contract and the values underlying the perceptions that violations have occurred.Main findings: The data revealed lack of promotion, poor interpersonal relations between colleagues and bad treatment by seniors as three main breaches of the contr...
Values underlying perceptions of breach of the psychological contract : original research
Sa Journal of Industrial Psychology, 2010
Orientation: This study identifies the most prominent breaches of the psychological contract and the values underlying the perceptions that violations have occurred. Research purpose: The study identifies the most important breaches and investigates which values underlie employee perceptions of breach of the psychological contract. It also addresses values that lead to employees interpreting incidents as breaches. Motivation for the study: The study calls on the fact that employees make inconsequential contributions to the terms of many formal employment contracts may imply that such contracts cannot be viewed as documents between equals. Research design, approach and method: The study identifies the most prominent breaches of the psychological contract and the values underlying the perceptions that violations have occurred. Main findings: The data revealed lack of promotion, poor interpersonal relations between colleagues and bad treatment by seniors as three main breaches of the contract, and social recognition, world of peace and sense of accomplishment as three dominant values that underlie perceptions of contract violation. Practical/managerial implications: The competent and intelligent manner in which lack of promotion is handled and communicated to employees is vital because it has implications for their willingness to contribute, their career prospects and their intention to stay in the organisation. Contribution/value-add: This research can serve as the basis for the development of survey or research instruments that are appropriate and relevant to the population.
Psychological Contracts: Past, Present, and Future
Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2018
We provide a review of psychological contract research, beginning with past conceptualizations and empirical evidence. We tailor this retrospective look by reviewing the antecedents and outcomes associated with psychological contract breach and discussing the dominant theoretical explanations for the breach-outcome relationship. This synthesis of past evidence provides the foundation for reviewing the present emerging and developing themes in psychological contract research. This discussion is organized around the expansion of resources exchanged and the antecedents of contract breach and outcomes, moving beyond reciprocity as an underpinning explanation. We highlight the practical implications of research to date on psychological contracts and end with directions for future research to include the need for greater attention given to ideological currency, employee health, polycontextual approaches, the role of psychological needs, and post-breach/violation.
A Discrepancy Model of Psychological Contract Violations
Human Resource Management Review, 1999
While previous research suggests that employees rarely believe organizations keep all of the commitments made to them, only in some cases do employees perceive these unfulfilled commitments as psychological contract violations and make active attempts to``get even'' with their employers for the betrayal. This paper presents a discrepancy model for understanding when employees will perceive unfulfilled commitments as psychological contract violations and for understanding when employees will respond in a hostile manner to those violations. Among other factors, the sources of employees' expectations, the specific contract elements on which discrepancies occur, and the magnitude and timing of the unfulfilled commitments are all posited as important contributors to perceptions of psychological contract violations. Then, individual differences, organizational practices, and labor market factors are examined as important moderators of how strongly employees respond to perceived psychological contract violations. The article concludes with directions for future theoretical and empirical research on psychological contract violations and employees' reactions to them.
The Newcomer’s Psychological Contract Breach and Its Change
The Korean Journal of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2015
This study has two primary aims: (1) to investigate the relationship between how the newcomer perceives employer promises psychological contract breach, and (2) to understand how these rates change over time. A total of 222 newcomers at major Korean companies were surveyed twice at a three-month interval. Results showed that both levels of perceived employer promise and psychological contract breach decreased over time as individuals accumulated real job experience. Also, the change in perceived employer promises was positively related to the change in breach perception. As their perceived employer promise level decreases over time, newcomers perceived fewer psychological contract breaches. This study provides evidence that a newcomer's breach perception could result from overestimation of employer promise and that job experience plays a role in adjusting employer promise perception to an appropriate level, thereby lowering breach perception. These findings suggest that newcomers' breach perception may be different from that of existing employees, due to incomplete initial understanding of employer promise, leading to increased frequency of breach perception. Practitioners may also benefit from education on new approaches for managing newcomers' breach perception.
Psychological Contract Breach and Organizational Outcomes: Moderating Effect of Tenure
Asian Review of Social Sciences, 2019
Conventional wisdom tells us that only if the employees are paid enough, they can be made happy consequently productive. However, studies have suggested that the nature of the relations between employer and employee have a vital role to play in employee’s job satisfaction, Likewise, employee’s intention to leave the organization is influenced by both money related factors and relational elements. Studies suggest that the nature of the employer-employee relationship significantly affects the employee perceptions and reactions. Psychological Contract is a model which will help one to understand the employer-employee relationship. The mutual expectations and obligations proportionate to each one’s contribution is a general way to define psychological contract. Research suggests that a breach of this contract can affect the organizational outcomes and employee reactions negatively. This study considers the psychological contract breach from the employees’ perspective. Although studies h...
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2009
This study examines how employees' perceptions of specific features of the organizational context-organizational politics and procedural justice-are related to their evaluations of psychological contract breach and subsequent attitudes and behaviors. Across three studies, we examined the appropriateness of four models for describing relationships among the focal constructs. Results of these studies support (a) an environmental responsiveness model in which psychological contract breach mediates the effects of politics and justice on employee outcomes, and (b) a general fairness evaluation model where politics, justice, and psychological contract breach serve as indicators of a higher order factor that predicts employee attitudes and behavior. Implications and directions for future research are presented.