Psychological Contract Breach Research Articles

Understanding Employees’ Responses to Psychological Contract Breach During a Crisis

Despite considerable research on the psychological contract (PC) breach, there exists limited research explicating how employees react to instances of PC breach in times of crisis and what organizations can do to mitigate the detrimental effects of PC breach on the employee-organization relationship during a crisis. Drawing on the risk management theory of corporate social responsibility (CSR, Godfrey, 2005), we argue that CSR effort enacted by an organization provides creates an effect much like insurance and tempers negative employee reactions to PC breach during a crisis. We manipulated CSR and PC breach during an organizational crisis in a scenario-based experiment of 108 working adults (Study 1). Findings suggest subjects in the high CSR conditions are more likely to make external attributions for PC breach, thus placing responsibility for the broken promises outside the company’s control. Then, we surveyed 394 employees from diverse industries in the context of COVID-19 crisis (Study 2). Results suggest perceived CSR moderated the indirect effect of PC breach on employees’ reconciliation with organization via external attributions, such that the effect was stronger when employees perceived a high level of CSR.

Post-breach Psychological Contract States: Development and Validation of a Measure

Research on psychological contracts is steadily growing and much empirical evidence attests to the overwhelming detrimental effect of psychological contract breach on attitudes, emotions, and behaviors. Most of this research uses a global or composite scale for psychological contract breach and does not account for the possibility that after the experience of breach, an individual’s psychological contract may change for the better or worse. To address this, our study develops and validates a new multidimensional measure of psychological contract state: Post-breach Contract State (PBCS) to capture the effects of breach on an individual’s subsequent psychological contract. Evidence from 5 samples from the UK and USA provides support for a four-dimension structure (Impairment, Dissolution, Reactivation and Thriving) that presents a better fit than alternative models; the dimensions are highly reliable; the scale demonstrates evidence for validity with constructs in psychological contract breach nomological network; distinctive cognitive processes leading to each state; the states explain incremental validity over psychological contract breach, fulfillment, and violation measures. Overall, results from the present study suggest that the PBCS is a measure that can provide more granulated insights to how the occurrence of breach can positively reshape or deteriorate an employee’s relationship with their employer.

Furlough Status: The Effects of Contract Breach, Violation, and Perceived Organizational Support

The current study, we design to address the effect of furlough status on employees' attitudes and well-being after returning to their previous employment status. Specifically, we suggest that the two constructs - psychological contract breach and violation - mediated the associations between the employees’ furlough status and emotional exhaustion and affective commitment. Additionally, we propose that perceived organizational support attenuated the association between employment status and employees contract breach perception. A cross-sectional study conducted at two points in time – during the first lockdown and four months after the lockdown (N=336), confirmed the study hypotheses and supported the predicted indirect sequential associations. However, perceived organizational support served to buffer the association between employment status and perceived psychological contract breach only in the case of employees who continued to work during the lockdown period.

The local lingo: Influence of Host Country Language Proficiency on Psychological Contract Breach

The psychological contract and expatriate literatures suggest that the ability of employees to communicate with their employers will avoid misunderstandings and strengthen relationships, thereby limiting the effects of breach on negative and positive workplace behavior. Proficiency in the host country language is likely to facilitate communication for self-initiated expatriates who decide to move to another country and work there. This 3-wave study, using data from 300 self-initiated expatriates, shows that psychological contract breach at time 1 is positively related to counterproductive work behavior and negatively related with organizational citizenship behavior at time 3 through feelings of violation at time 2. Furthermore, host country language proficiency moderates the relationship between breach and feelings of violation, thereby amplifying the indirect relationships between breach and the outcome variables for those who have poor levels of host country language proficiency. We discuss implications for theory, practice and future research in the field of self-initiated expatriates.

Person related workplace bullying and knowledge hiding behaviors: relational psychological contract breach as an underlying mechanism

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the direct relationship between person-related workplace bullying and dimensions of knowledge hiding. In addition, this study also intends to explore how relational psychological contract breach (RPCB) mediates bulling and knowledge hiding.Design/methodology/approachThis study has used a survey-based research design to collect the data. The data were collected in three-time lags from 494 individuals working in IT-based firms (software houses) located in Pakistan. The data were analyzed through the variance-based structural equation modeling technique. For this purpose, the authors used SmartPLS3 software.FindingsThis study revealed that person-related workplace bullying impacts playing dumb and evasive knowledge hiding both directly and indirectly. In addition to this, person-related bullying does not affect rationalized knowledge hiding. This study also found that RPCB mediates the relationship between person-related bullying and knowledge hiding dimensions.Practical implicationsThis study offers important implications for IT firms, including software houses. The findings imply that organizations should discourage person-related workplace bullying to reduce employees’ intention to engage in knowledge-hiding behavior. Moreover, the management of these firms should develop a culture of interpersonal trust among employees so that they can care for the relational psychological contract.Originality/valueThis study is amongst the few types of research that has investigated the impact of person-related bullying on different forms of knowledge hiding behavior through the mediating role of RPCB.

Unpaid leave on COVID-19: The impact of psychological breach contract on emotional exhaustion: The mediating role of job distrust and insecurity.

This research intends to increase awareness of the existence of psychological breach contracts on emotional exhaustion in the context of a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, with the function of organizational distrust (OD) and job insecurity (JI) serving as mediating factors. We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to look at the 437 questionnaires that private sector workers in Pakistan filled out during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings of direct and indirect effects show that (PBC) psychological breach contract directly leads to emotional exhaustion (EH) and has a significant indirect relationship through job insecurity (JI). Moreover, psychological contract breach (PBC) directly leads to emotional exhaustion (EH) and has a significant indirect relationship through organization distrust (OD). The study shows both theoretical and practical implications, as well as areas where more research needs to be done.

Factors Affecting Request & Receipt of I-deals: An Investigation in the Context of Older Workers

I-deals are a key method for organizations to retain and motivate employees, yet little research has investigated employee motivations for seeking i-deals and antecedents to request and receipt. We examine these largely invisible antecedents of i-deals in the context of older workers, a cohort of increasing importance in the workplace. Through thematic analysis of 82 in-depth interviews with Australian workers over the age of 50, we develop a model of i-deal emergence that delineates the motivation, request, and receipt stages of i-deals. We identified four motivational influences to seek i-deals: to improve work–life balance, to repair psychological contract breach, and to craft satisfactory retirement pathways; high levels of existing job-role autonomy acted as a demotivator to request i-deals. We also identified three factors associated with an i-deal request being granted: an older worker’s value to the organization, positive employee–manager relationships, and emphasis of mutual benefit for employee and employer. We identified a novel antecedent for i-deals: feasibility—an older worker’s perception of how likely they are to be successful when requesting a desired i-deal. Feasibility perceptions are informed by organizational practices and policies around i-deals, co-worker i-deal experiences, and job-role constraints. Feasibility can influence an employee’s decisions to request an i-deal and also directly affect attitudes toward the employer, regardless of whether an i-deal is present, desired, or otherwise. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future directions outlined.

Trust violation at work: Lived experiences of American, Indian, and Chinese employees

Despite decades of research establishing that trust is critical to successful collaboration, the experience of trust violation is poorly understood independent of trust repair. Furthermore, despite increasing globalization, most organizational research on trust violation is heavily Westernized. This semi-structured interview study explored subjective experiences of trust violation at work across 23 individuals from the United States, India, and China to better understand similarities and differences in the unfolding reactions to trust violations across cultures. Our inductive thematic analysis identifies some trust violation triggers common to all three nationalities (i.e., psychological contract breach, professional attack, lack of work ethic) and some triggers unique to certain nationalities (i.e., lack of acknowledgment for Indian workers; excessive monitoring and injustice perceptions for Chinese workers). Regarding reactions to trust violations, American workers emphasized a central reaction of anger, Indian workers described more varied emotional and behavioral reactions possibly reflecting cultural complexity, and Chinese workers described reactions of emotion suppression and behavioral avoidance that align with theories of face. For American and Indian workers, violations damaged both interpersonal relationships and attitudes towards one’s job, whereas for Chinese workers, violations damaged only the focal interpersonal relationship. We discuss the implications of our descriptive, nationality-specific unfolding models of trust violation for advancing cross-cultural research on trust violations at work.

Impact of Ethical Leadership on Employee Turnover Intentions in the Construction Industry

Construction projects are cost-intensive, complex, and challenging ventures that often place employees in a harsh work environment filled with safety hazards. Employees facing such rigid characteristics must also adhere to strict time schedules to complete construction tasks; as a result, construction employees experience high stress that can deplete their psychological resources. Consequently, construction employees develop intentions to quit the organization, commonly known as turnover intentions. This study evaluates the role of ethical leadership in reducing employee turnover intentions in the construction industry. In this study, work exhaustion and psychological contract breach are considered prime antecedents of employee turnover in the construction industry. We collected data from satellite town development projects in Pakistan and performed regression path analysis to assess hypothesized relationships between construction employee turnover intention and its antecedents. The moderating effects of ethical leadership in reducing the impacts of work exhaustion and psychological contract breach were studied. Results revealed that work exhaustion and perceived psychological contract breach positively correlate with construction employee turnover intention; however, ethical leadership significantly reduced the impacts of work exhaustion and psychological contract breach on employee turnover intention. The findings and practical implications of this study can be used to help construction managers act ethically in their managerial duties to retain employees and continue to motivate employees to complete project tasks.

Why Employees are not loyal to their Workplace in Private Sector?

Employee turnover is a significant factor that is of vital importance to the employees of the organization. The prerequisite to leave one’s job or organization is the intention to leave that can be referred as turnover intention. It is the thinking and planning of employees to leave their job and organization due to different reasons. Since turnover intention is not explicit; it is difficult to determine the factors, these lead to leave one’s job and organization. So, this conceptual paper tried to summarize different factors affecting turnover intention of employees which are identified by different scholars and researchers. The population of research is the private sector of Pakistan because this issue of turnover and organization performance is of major concern in private companies. The size of the sample of 251 respondent was selected. The main objective of this research is to study the relationship between (Abusive Supervision, Emotional Exhaustion, Organizational Politics, Psychological Contract Breach, Perceived organization support, Remuneration, Workplace Bullying, Work life imbalance) and mediating effect of turnover on organizational performance. for this research we have used PLS path modeling approach keeping in view the above literature review. For analyzing the data, we have used Smart PLS 3.0. After the results revealed all the hypothesis were accepted except workplace bullying, perceived organization support and work life imbalance. This research will help Organization that organizations have to work on the environment conditions with the support of developing career and value towards the promotional opportunities for employees that give them motivation to retain in organization.

Impact of Psychological Contract Breach on Employees’ Sabotage and Whistle-Blowing Behaviors through Perceived Organizational Frustration

Impact of Psychological Contract Breach on Employees’ Sabotage and Whistle-Blowing Behaviors through Perceived Organizational Frustration

Revisiting congruence effects in diversity research: views of diversity initiatives and experiences of belonging in a New Zealand healthcare organization

PurposeThis study drew on person-organization fit and ideological psychological contract theories to test whether inclusiveness, operationalized as sense of belonging, could be explained by congruence/discrepancy between employees' personal value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and employees' views of perceived organizational commitment to these initiatives. The study also examined whether sense of belonging, and perspectives of DEI initiatives, differed between majority [New Zealand European (NZE)] and minority [Māori/Pasifika (MP)] workers.Design/methodology/approachA total of 771 employees from a New Zealand healthcare organization completed an online survey. Further to mean difference tests to contrast majority and minority group experiences, polynomial regressions with response surface methodology were conducted to examine congruence effects on sense of belonging.FindingsWhile MP workers attributed greater personal value to DEI initiatives and viewed the organization as prioritizing these initiatives compared to NZ European (NZE) workers, MP workers experienced a lower sense of belonging. Further, the authors' results show that congruence at higher levels of personal and organizational importance ascribed to DEI initiatives was associated with greater sense of belonging. Contrary to the deficiency-based discrepancy effect proposed, the lowest levels of belonging were experienced at low levels of organizational commitment to DEI, regardless of personal diversity value. Additionally, MP were more susceptible to ideological psychological contract breach than NZE workers.Practical implicationsThe authors' study highlights that while positive diversity climate perceptions are closely linked to perceptions of inclusion, organizations will discern the factors that contribute to or undermine inclusiveness by also gaging personal value DEI initiatives and the unique experiences of minority and majority groups.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine the effect of diversity-related value congruence on employees' sense of belonging, and to uncover racioethnic differences in these effects.

心理契约违背与员工 习得性无助:内部人身份感知与集体主义氛围的作用 Breach of psychological contract and employee's learned helplessness: Insider identity perception and the role of collectivist atmosphere

心理契约违背与员工 习得性无助:内部人身份感知与集体主义氛围的作用 Breach of psychological contract and employee's learned helplessness: Insider identity perception and the role of collectivist atmosphere

The career plan and adjustment on the middle- and older-aged elementary school teachers in the wave of the pension reform:The perspective of psychological contract breach

<p>本研究聚焦於年金改革所帶來的影響，探討中高齡國小教師的生涯規劃及調適。對11位受訪者進行深度訪談，結果顯示，選擇教職的初衷包括「追求穩定與單純的生活」、「考量家庭經濟因素」、「熱忱與興趣」、以及「福利及附加價值誘人」等。其年金改革前的生涯規劃為：「財務管理」、「休閒旅遊」、「心理健康及成長」；對年金改革的想法與感受有：「難以接受，忿忿不平」、「無安全感，憂心忡忡」、「莫可奈何，面對現實」、「快速調適，隨遇而安」；年金改革後的生涯規劃與調適分為：「後顧無憂，一切照常」、「縮小願望，調整方式」、「亡羊補牢，加強規劃」、及「未來茫然，不如歸去」。本研究總結在年金改革後：（1）教師心理受到衝擊、情緒難平；（2）調適有賴個人資源或轉念；（3）財務因素躍升為退休規劃之重要考量。最後，本文以生涯調適及心理契約兩個觀點，討論年金改革對中高齡國小教師生涯規劃及心理的影響，提供未來更進一步研究或實務之參考。</p> <p> </p><p>This study aimed to understand the career plan and adjustment of the middle-and older-aged elementary school teachers, focusing on the effects of the waves of pension reform. In-depth interviews were conducted on eleven middle-and older-aged elementary school teachers. The main findings were as below. First, there were four kinds of intentions for choosing to be teachers initially. Second, participants had three types of retirement plans before the pension reforms, they were financial management, leisure and traveling, mental health and growth. Third, participants reacted differently towards the pension reforms, some felt depressed and angry, some felt anxious, and some decided to face the changes and adjust. Fourth, participants reformulated their career plans after the pension reforms, some stuck to the original plans, some made flexible adjustments to the original plans, while some remained anxious and decided to retire. Based on the findings, we discussed career adaptability and psychological contract. We also provided suggestions for further research and practical interventions. </p> <p> </p>

The formation mechanism of destructive leadership behavior: from the perspective of moral deconstruction process

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of psychological contract breach on destructive by developing a moderated mediation model. The model focuses on the mediating role of moral identity and moral disengagement and the moderating role of moral belief.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted a three-wave questionnaire survey and used 377 matched-sample data to test the hypotheses. PROCESS bootstrapping program in SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS software were adopted in this study.FindingsResults reveal that psychological contract breach has a positive effect on destructive leadership behavior, and the relationship is mediated by moral identity and moral disengagement; moral belief not only moderates the relationship between psychological contract breach and destructive leadership behavior, but also moderates the mediation effect of moral identity and moral disengagement.Originality/valueFirst, this study enriches the destructive leadership behavior literature by verifying psychological contract breach as an antecedent. Second, this study discusses the role of morality in the formation mechanism of destructive leadership behavior by testing the mediating effect of moral identity and moral disengagement and the moderating effect of moral belief.

The psychological contracts of university professional staff: expectations, obligations and benefits

ABSTRACT The psychological contract shapes people’s perceptions and behaviours in the workplace through how people perceive and react to feedback from their environment. Little research has been carried out on the psychological contracts of university professional staff and this oversight is particularly problematic due to the impact that the psychological contract has on employee wellbeing and performance. An online survey instrument was utilised incorporating previously validated measures of psychological contract breach, satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. 226 responses to the survey were analysed through a hierarchical linear regression analysis. This research finds that the psychological contract and psychological contract breach can be conceptualised as either contemporary or traditional, incorporating elements from those career orientations. This article concludes that psychological contract expectations of contemporary career factors are one of the most important predictor variables of psychological contract breach alongside satisfaction.

The tremors of interconnected triggers over time: How psychological contract breach can erupt

SummaryAdopting an intra‐individual process, we explore the dynamics that underlie the emergence of a psychological contract breach. Thirty‐seven unique storylines expose how selected stimuli shake employees' psychological contracts to attention and give rise to perceptions of breach as a result of an iterative process of disrupting (introducing triggers that prompt a shift from automatic processing to conscious attention of psychological contract terms), appraisal (revealing elements—goals, attribution, fairness, and resources—playing a role in appraising and making sense of triggers), and (problem‐focused and emotion‐focused) coping. We discuss the implications of accounting for breach in the absence of a discrete event and draw on selective attention theory to differentiate when stimuli become triggers with the capacity to activate the psychological contract. We extend existing research by revealing the unique role that triggers, and their interconnectedness play in the cognition of contract breach, building up pressure until a threshold has been surpassed and breach is perceived. Our study highlights the need for managers to use strategies to deescalate the accumulation of triggers.

Assessing the Influence of Dark Triad Personality Traits on Counterproductive Work Behaviour with Mediating Role of Selected Variables

This study aims to see how dark triad personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and machiavellianism) influence counterproductive work behaviours (CPWBs), with the mediating role of Perception of Organizational Politics, Psychological Contract Breach, and Perceived Accountability. Previous studies have engrossed the dark triad's effect on measuring individuals' unproductive work conduct. As a result, the dark triad personality traits are examined in this study to investigate counterproductive work behaviour. This research proposes and empirically validates this link model, suggesting that three mediators of the association between dark triad personalities and CWBs are Perception of Organizational Politics, Psychological Contract Breach, and Perceived Accountability. This study applied regression analysis and the Sobel Test to test the hypotheses on a sample of 342 employees working in the Manufacturing sector of Egypt. The results of this study reveal that the dark triad has a positive and significant effect on counterproductive work behaviours, and Perception of organisational Politics, psychological contract breach, and Perceived Accountability significantly mediate the relationship between the dark triad and counterproductive work behaviour.

High-performance work system and knowledge hoarding: the mediating role of competitive climate and the moderating role of high-performance work system psychological contract breach

PurposeHigh-performance work system (HPWS) has been verified as a promoter of both organizational and individual outcomes. However, this research takes the conflicting view of HPWS to examine the impact of HPWS perception on knowledge hoarding. In addition, competitive climate is proposed to mediate the relationship while HPWS psychological contract breach is hypothesized to moderate the HPWS-knowledge hoarding linkage.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research design is adopted with data collected from 367 MBA and PhD students in Vietnam. Partial least square structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe perception of HPWS increase knowledge hoarding with competitive climate acting as a partial mediator. HPWS psychological contract breach intensifies the relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe research provides additional evidences to support the dark-side view of HPWS on employees' outcomes. The adoption and implementation of HPWS should be clearly announced to reduce perceptions of mismatch between expectation and reality.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to investigate the association between HPWS and knowledge hoarding. In addition, the mediating role of competitive climate represents a novelty in HPWS research. Finally, the concept of HPWS psychological contract breach has been introduced to the literature.

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.