Ups and Downs of Organizational Commitment: Psychological Contract Breach Absence and Accumulation

Abstract

This study examined the dynamic nature of organizational commitment (OC) using latent class growth modeling to better understand the complex relations among psychological contract (PC) breach (its absence and accumulation), OC, and performance. We used time- sensitive methods and analyses to overcome limitations associated with traditional methods used in the PC literature. We surveyed 164 Belgian employees and their supervisors for 10 consecutive weeks, resulting in 1117 observations. We found five theoretically relevant OC trajectories for employees who experienced PC breach: Continuous Decline, Positive Accommodation, Re-Commitment, Sustained Commitment, and Continuous Elevation. In contrast, we found two for employees who did not experience PC breach: Sustained Commitment and Continuous Elevation. The highest levels of PC breach accumulation were characterized by Continuous Decline, whereas the lowest were characterized by Positive Accommodation or Re-Commitment. Moreover, employees who demonstrated Continuous Decline had the lowest supervisor-rated performance and OCB, and the highest CWB. In contrast, those who demonstrated Sustained OC or Continuous Elevation, regardless of PC breach accumulation, had the highest performance and OCB, and the lowest CWB. Our findings challenge implicit assumptions in the PC literature, underscoring the importance of temporal research.