Perceived Contract Breach Research Articles

Opportunistic silence: ignited by psychological contract breach, instigated by hostile attribution bias

PurposeDrawing on social exchange literature, this study explores the mediating role of affective commitment between employees' assessments of contract breaches and opportunistic silence, along with the invigorating effect of hostile attribution bias.Design/methodology/approachWe tested the hypotheses using multi-wave data collected from employees working in higher education institutions in Pakistan.FindingsPerceived contract breaches elicit intentional, selfish and retaliatory motives of silence, largely because employees lack emotional attachments to their organization. This mechanism is more prominent among employees who tend to blame others and perceive them as antagonistic even when they are not.Practical implicationsFor human resource managers, this investigation highlights a crucial feature – affective commitment – by which employees' perceptions of psychological contract breaches facilitate opportunistic silence. Our results suggest that this process is more likely to intensify when employees have distorted thinking, motivating them to attribute the worst motives to their employer's actions.Social implicationsPerceived contract breaches within universities can have far-reaching societal consequences, affecting trust, reputation, economic stability, and the overall quality and accessibility of education and research. Addressing and preventing such breaches is essential to maintaining the positive societal role of universities.Originality/valueThis study provides novel insights into the process that underlies the connection between perceived contract breach and opportunistic silence by revealing the hitherto overlooked role of employees' hostile attribution bias, which renders them more susceptible to experiencing unfavorable forms of social exchange.

Furlough and its effects on employees after returning to work: the roles of psychological contract breach and violation, and perceived organizational support

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic brought about changes in the working world. One of the main strategies to cope with the economic situation during lockdowns was to furlough employees. In the current study, we propose that psychological contract breach and violation between the organization and the furloughed employee act as underlying mechanisms that explain the relationship between the employees' furlough status and the increase in their emotional exhaustion and decrease in affective commitment. Furthermore, we suggest that perceived organizational support can act as a buffer that attenuates the association between furloughed employment status and perceived contract breach. The study was conducted at two points in time: during the first lockdown and 4 months afterward (N = 336). Results supported the predicted indirect sequential associations. However, perceived organizational support served to buffer the relationship between furloughed employment status and perceived psychological contract breach only in the case of employees who continued to work.

Does attachment anxiety accentuate the effect of perceived contract breach on counterproductive work behaviors?

AbstractApplying belongingness and attachment theories, we explore the association between employees' perception of psychological contract breach and counterproductive work behaviors, while also considering the mediating effect of workplace ostracism and the moderating role of attachment styles (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance). Time‐lagged data from full‐time personnel working in telecommunications and transportation sectors in North America were collected at three different time points with an interval of 3 weeks between each wave. A total of 272 responses from the three measurement points were retained for our analysis. In support of what was hypothesized, our study's findings show that perception of contract breach fueled workplace deviance through the anticipated effect of workplace ostracism. Furthermore, and in line with what we assumed, the mediating effect of workplace ostracism was reinforced by employees' fear of rejection and abandonment in relationships (i.e., attachment anxiety). The role of attachment avoidance, however, was not found to moderate the indirect effect, contrary to our expectations. In conclusion, embedded in belongingness and attachment theorizing, this study offers empirical evidence of how workplace ostracism is a crucial mechanism that helps to explain the indirect effect through which psychological contract breach triggers counterproductive work behaviors. Furthermore, our findings illustrate how this relationship is conditional on attachment anxiety observed in employees.

Leaders' trait signaling effect on followers' psychological contract dynamics

PurposeUsing signaling theory and the literature on psychological contracts, the authors investigate how leaders' personalities shape their followers' perceptions of the type of psychological contract formed. They also suggest that leaders' personalities impact their followers' perceived contract breach. Furthermore, the authors propose that power distance orientation in organizations acts as an important boundary condition that enhances or exacerbates the relationships between personality and contract type and personality and perceived breach.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through multiple sources in Pakistan from 456 employees employed in 102 bank branches. Multilevel moderated path analyses provided reasonably good support for our hypotheses.FindingsThe leaders' personalities impacted the relational contracts of their followers in the cases of extraversion and agreeableness, whereas neuroticism had a significant relationship with the followers' formation of transactional contracts. Similarly, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness had significant relationships with perceived breach. Finally, the power distance of the followers aggregated at a group level moderated the personality-contract type and personality-perceived breach relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThis research advances understanding of psychological contracts in organizations. More specifically, it shows that the personality of leader would have profound impact on the type of contract their employees form and the likelihood that would perceive the breach of contract.Originality/valueThis research extends existing personality-psychological contract literature by examining the role of leaders' personalities in signaling to employees the type of contract that is formed and the perception of its breach. The role of power distance organizational culture as a signaling environment is also considered.

Procedural Justice in Selection from the Lens of Psychological Contract Theory

Abstract Background and purpose: In recruitment and selection, job applicants do not only base their justice judgment on the actual experience but also compare what happens and what they expect. This study, therefore, investigates applicants’ reaction to procedural justice in recruitment selection through the lens of psychological contract framework. Psychological contract theory highlights the role of expectations, discrepancies between perception and expectation, and perceived contract breach on individual outcomes. Methodology: Two surveys were conducted with job seekers in Vietnam, one before and one after the selection process. Printed questionnaires were administered to job seekers in the first survey, while the second used online survey. Structural Equation Modeling technique was adopted to analyze the data. Results: Data from a sample of 232 job seekers indicated that previous job experience and source of candidates were significantly related to justice expectations. In addition, perceived unmet expectations were found to predict procedural contract breach, which in turn negatively influenced job acceptance intention and recommendation intention. Conclusion: The research highlights the role of unmet justice expectation, the perceived discrepancy between what happened and what was supposed to be, in predicting intention to accept offer and to recommend others. The results suggest that firms should provide updated and official information regarding the selection process to all parties such as internal employees, recruitment agency and job search website to reduce over-expectation.

Coping and laughing in the face of broken promises: implications for creative behavior

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider how employees’ perceptions of psychological contract breach, due to their sense that their organization has not kept its promises, might diminish their creative behavior. Yet access to two critical personal resources – emotion regulation and humor skills – might buffer this negative relationship.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from employees in a large organization in the automobile sector.FindingsEmployees’ beliefs that their employer has not come through on its promises diminishes their engagement in creative activities. The effect is weaker among employees who can more easily control their emotions and who use humor in difficult situations.Practical implicationsFor organizations, the results show that the frustrations that come with a sense of broken promises can be contained more easily to the extent that their employee bases can rely on pertinent personal resources.Originality/valueThis investigation provides a more comprehensive understanding of when perceived contract breach steers employees away from productive work activities, in the form of creativity. This damaging effect is less prominent when employees possess skills that enable them to control negative emotions or can use humor to cope with workplace adversity.

Psychological contract breach and workplace deviance: Does emotional intelligence matter?

This study investigated the influence of emotional intelligence on the relationship between psychological contract breach and workplace deviance with feelings of violation. The participants were 232 employees of a Nigerian public sector organisation (125 males and 107 females). The employees completed measures of workplace deviance, psychological contract breach, feelings of violation, and emotional intelligence. Results of the moderated hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that psychological contract breach was positively related to feelings of violation and workplace deviance. Emotional intelligence significantly buffered the negative effect of psychological contract breach on feelings of violation and workplace deviance. This implies that emotionally intelligent employees who perceived contract breach are less likely to experience feelings of violation and engage in workplace deviance. Emotional regulation appears to reliably moderate between breach-outcome relationships.

The Impact of Specific Job Stressors on Psychological Contract Breach and Violation

This study investigated whether environmental stressors predict perceptions of psychological contract breach and associated feelings of violation in employees from a large manufacturing organization. It was proposed that increasing levels of job stress as a result of changes in the employment context may account for the rising incidence of perceived contract breach. The results suggest that breach and violation are more likely when employees are experiencing role conflict, perceive a lack of career progression, and perceive a lack of control over work. Further, control was found to moderate the relationship between stress and breach. This study has important practical implications, suggesting ways in which organizations may be able to reduce the likelihood of psychological contract breach and violation.

Deleterious Consequences of Change in Newcomers’ Employer-Based Psychological Contract Obligations

Purpose This study examines the issue of change in newcomers’ employer-based psychological contract obligations over time, viewing change as a potentially important determinant of perceived contract breach and subsequent employee attitudes and behaviors.

Making sense of psychological contract breach

PurposeA small number of psychological contract studies have explored the cognitive processes that influence employees' evaluation and reactions to perceived contract breach. The aim of this paper is to extend this reseaerch with a qualitative study on breach using a sense making perspective.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 15 interviews employing critical incident technique to examine employee sense making processes were carried out.FindingsThe findings highlight the variety of ways employees perceive contract breach and the processual nature of the experience. Emotions and actions were intertwined in the process of attributing responsibility and finding an explanation for the breach.Research limitations/implicationsContract breach is not necessarily a discrete event and reciprocity is integral to the sense making process. The findings provide a basis for future research that could explore the role of time, contextual factors and various employer representatives as sense‐givers in psychological contract evaluations.Practical implicationsEmployer representatives can aid employees to make sense of critical events that occur in organizations to minimize the effects of breach.Originality/valueThe paper provides an under‐researched sense making‐perspective on psychological contract breach. Through a qualitative inquiry, the complex nature of the employees' experience of and reaction to breach, is highlighted.

Ideological Foundations of Perceived Contract Breach Associated With Downsizing: An Empirical Investigation

This paper explores the effects of three managerial ideologies on the degree of psychological contract breach perceived in connection with a downsizing event. Results from surveys conducted in the U.S. and Singapore suggest that a strong belief in the ideologies of market competition or shareholder interest reduces the perceived contract breach associated with a downsizing, while strong belief in the third ideology, the ideology of employee worth, has the opposite effect. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

A psychological contract perspective on organizational citizenship behavior

AbstractThis study examined the contribution of the psychological contract framework to understanding organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) using survey data gathered at three measurement points over a three‐year period from 480 public sector employees. Separating perceived contract breach into its two components (perceived employer obligations and inducements), the data suggest that perceived employer obligations explained unique variance in three dimensions of citizenship behavior (helping, advocacy and functional participation) beyond that accounted for by perceived employer inducements. Employees' acceptance of the norm of reciprocity moderated the relationship between employer inducements and the dimensions of advocacy and functional participation. Employees' trust in their employer moderated the relationship between perceived employer obligations and the dimensions of advocacy and functional participation. Contrary to the hypothesis, procedural or interactional justice did not moderate the relationship between employer inducements and OCB. The implications of the findings for psychological contract research are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The development of psychological contract breach and violation: a longitudinal study

This study examines factors affecting employees' perceptions that their psychological contract has been breached by their organization, and factors affecting whether this perception will cause employees to experience feelings of contract violation. Data were obtained from 147 managers just prior to their beginning of new job (time 1) and 18 months later (time 2). It was found that perceived contract breach at time 2 was more likely when organizational performance and self-reported employee performance were low, the employee had not experienced a formal socialization process, the employee had little interaction with organizational agents prior to hire, the employee had a history of psychological contract breach with former employers, and the employee had many employment alternatives at the time of hire. Furthermore, perceived breach was associated with more intense feelings of violation when employees both attributed the breach to purposeful reneging by the employer and felt unfairly treated in the process. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.