Abstract
Purpose: To understand the underlying employer–employee relationships when there are weak labour laws and high unemployment, we tested a mediation of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ – 12 – items measuring the dark triad (Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) on the Psychological Contract Breach (PCB) – Exit, Voice and Loyalty (EVL) effect. Design/methodology/approach: Using 391 respondents comprising the staff of a large financial institution in Nigeria, we formulated the hypotheses to establish direct, indirect and total effects of the variables studied. Constructs diagnostics were performed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for construct validity, composite reliability for internal consistency and Hayes’ mediated regression to test the hypotheses. Findings/results: All direct effects were statistically significant. Narcissism is shown as the non-statistically supported mediator amongst the dark triad, whilst the study showed that the total effect of the multiple mediators worsens loyalty behaviour more than they predict exit behaviour. Practical Implications: This implies that employers should do better to maintain a healthy work climate in developing climes, as the dominant response to contract breach would not be exit, but rather disloyalty, which would be more disruptive to the organisation than either exit or voice. Originality/value: Post Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) there could be a threat to sustainable work systems. Both employers and employees would have to develop methods to deal with perceived breach from employers and idiosyncratic work behaviour of employees. The contributions of this study would aid sustainable work-related practices, especially within unregulated work environments as present in Africa and other developing nations across the world.
Highlights
The intention to maintain, or vitiate, the terms of employment is an organisational act that would obviously elicit certain responses from employees within an organisational space
95% confidence interval at 5000 bootstrapping samples, we found that there was a significant indirect effect of psychological contract breach (PCB) on exit through Machiavellianism, but no indirect significant effect through psychopathy and narcissism
We found that there was no significant indirect PCB on voice through Machiavellianism (b21 = 0.02; -0.0433 ≤ Cl ≤ 0.0798), an indirect significant effect through psychopathy (b22 = 0.0299; -0.0052 ≤ Cl ≤ 0.0623) and narcissism (b23 = -0.0041; -0.0203 ≤ Cl ≤ 0.0060)
Summary
The intention to maintain, or vitiate, the terms of employment is an organisational act that would obviously elicit certain responses from employees within an organisational space. Developing countries, like any other, have organisations of various sizes and structures that adhere to varying standards based on labour market trends These organisations in developing countries are more likely to take undue advantage of its employees with the pervasive belief that despite their grievances the employees may have little or no alternative job placements. It is clear that the organisational environment is dynamic, flexible and amenable to sudden contractual adjustments, giving rise to a feeling amongst employees that terms of service stipulated are being violated. These perceived violations thereof are expected to spur certain reactions amongst the employees; reactions that expectedly would in a similar perceptive appear to be negative, dark and http://www.sajbm.org
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