Transactional Psychological Contract Research Articles

Medical service quality, psychological contract, and patient loyalty: An empirical study among patients in China.

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of psychological contracts (including relational and transactional psychological contracts) on the relationship between medical service quality and patient loyalty.A cross-sectional survey was conducted between September and December 2017. Questionnaires assessing medical service quality, the psychological contract, and patient loyalty were distributed to a random sample of 600 patients across 6 hospitals. The final sample consisted of 469 participants. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the mediating effect of psychological contracts on the relationship between medical service quality and patient loyalty.The mean scores of medical service quality, psychological contracts, and patient loyalty were 3.497 ± 0.571, 3.699 ± 0.503, and 3.342 ± 0.724, respectively. Medical service quality is positively related to psychological contract (β = 0.612, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.476–0.603) and patient loyalty (β = 0.676, 95% CI = 0.773–0.944). Further, psychological contract is positively related to patient loyalty (β = 0.599, 95% CI = 0.757–0.968). Both relational psychological contract and transactional psychological contract mediate the relationship between medical service quality and patient loyalty.Our findings reveal that medical service quality is associated with patient loyalty and that this association is mediated by relational and transactional psychological contracts. Therefore, in order to improve patient loyalty, psychological contracts should be reinforced, and medical service quality should be improved.

Psikolojik Sözleşme Algısının Örgüte Bağlılığa Etkisi: Özel Eğitim Kurumlarında Görev Yapan Öğretmenlere Yönelik Bir Araştırma

Bu araştırma, psikolojik sözleşme algısının örgüte bağlılığa etkisini tespit etmek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri, Isparta İl merkezinde eğitim-öğretime devam eden özel okullarda öğretmen olarak görev yapan eğitim çalışanlarından toplanmıştır. Bu kapsamda bahse konu olan okullarda görev yapan tüm öğretmenlere dijital ortamda ulaştırılan formlardan 134 anket formu değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. 
 Ulaşılan sonuçlara göre, Psikolojik sözleşme işlemsel psikolojik sözleşme boyutu ile örgüte bağlılığın duygusal bağlılık boyutu ve devam bağlılığı boyutu arasında pozitif ve anlamlı ilişki tespit edilmiştir. Bu bağlamda katılımcıların ilişkisel ve işlemsel psikolojik sözleşme algısı arttıkça duygusal ve devam bağlılığına ilişkin algıları da artmaktadır. 
 Psikolojik sözleşmenin işlemsel ve ilişkisel sözleşme boyutlarının örgüte bağlılığın duygusal ve devam bağlılığı üzerinde olumlu ve anlamlı yordayıcısı olduğu, katılımcıların psikolojik sözleşmeye yönelik algıları arttıkça örgüte bağlılıkları artacağı ifade edilebilir. Bu bağlamda psikolojik sözleşmenin örgüte bağlılık üzerinde pozitif ve anlamlı bir etkisi tespit edilmiştir. Ulaşılan bulgular literatür doğrultusunda tartışılmış ve gelecek çalışmalar için önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

Analysis of psychological contract influence on employee commitment

Satisfying common desires are basic determinants of the relationship among employees and employers. Literature show that the relationships among employers and employees are imperative so as to draw in, propel, and hold aggressive, dynamic and productive workforce in the present incredibly focused and tempestuous work environment. Associations through making a firm business relationship can hold lively talents; lessen expenses related with employee turnover and make employees proficient, profitable and committed to the in general organizational goals. In this Research Article, we analysed the relations between Employee Relational Psychological Contract, Employee Professional Commitment, and Employee Transactional Psychological Contract, Continuity Intention of Employee and University/Institute Commitment of Employee.

The Role of Employee Human Resources Attribution on Developing Psychological Contract and Turnover Intention in Hong Kong

The purpose of the study is to illustrate how the human resources (HR) practices affecting the employee outcomes, this study used the concept from social and behavior science with HR management, which were attribution theory and psychological contract, to show how employees perceived the information differently. It further suggested how the process affected the performance of the employees, which illustrated through presenting their turnover intention in this model. In order to test the model, a quantitative survey was designed and conducted through snowball sampling. Multiple linear regression analysis model was used in this study to examine the data sets and tested the hypotheses. The result of this study showed how employees perceived the information could dramatically affect their reaction, as well as employee outcome. Furthermore, this study suggested that relational and transactional psychological contract was not a distinct concept, which subverted the past research regarding the types of psychological contract. This study could be used in operation management as the managers should pay attention of how they designed the HR practices could directly affect the employee outcomes and productivity. Limited research focused on the process operating in employees mind and the antecedents of psychological contract leading to certain employee outcomes. This study not only filled up the research gap but also presented the employee attribution and psychological contract concept in a complete manner by linking the variables in the model.Keywords: employee attribution, psychological contract, turnover intention, black box theory

Employees’ responses to psychological contract breach: The mediating role of organizational cynicism

This study evaluates employees’ responses (turnover intention and counterproductive work behavior) to different forms of psychological contract breach (relational and transactional), and the mediating role of organizational cynicism between employees’ responses and psychological contract breach. This study used a time lag technique for data collection from 411 bank employees in Pakistan. PLS-SEM and SmartPls software were applied for data analyses. The findings show that relational psychological contract breach has no significant impact on turnover intention but transactional psychological contract breach has a significant impact on turnover intention. However, counterproductive work behavior has a significant association with both forms of psychological contract breach (relational and transactional). Organizational cynicism significantly mediates the relation of relational psychological contract breach and turnover intention, but fails to mediate the relation between transactional psychological contract breach and turnover intention. Contrary to this, organizational cynicism partially mediates the relation between psychological contract breach (relational and transactional) and counterproductive work behavior. The implications and future directions are discussed in the last section of this study.

The interplay between relational and transactional psychological contracts and burnout and engagement

Being aware of the interplay between an individual type of workplace psychological contract and burnout and engagement experiences is relevant when responding to scholastic calls for a greater understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms influencing individual experiences. Prior studies have digressed from understanding this phenomenon in its entirety and consequently the complexity of the interplay as well as the outcomes involved were less understood. This paper provides a nuanced knowledge about individual burnout and engagement through the lens of relational and transactional contracts in a cross-national context. Specifically, this was explored through asking the question ‘How relational and transactional psychological contracts explain burnout and engagement experiences of cross-national academics?‘. A qualitative approach was adopted using semi-structured interviews with 20 Australian and 20 Malaysian university academics. The outcomes of the analysis first revealed that, Australian academics’ contracts were primarily more transactional while Malaysian academics’ contracts were primarily more relational. Second, the interplay between individual relational and transactional contracts and burnout and engagement experiences was found to be moderately elusive for both Australian and Malaysian academics. The outcomes also revealed both direct and indirect influences to explicate the interplay.

Effect of Gig Workers’ Psychological Contract Fulfillment on Their Task Performance in a Sharing Economy—A Perspective from the Mediation of Organizational Identification and the Moderation of Length of Service

Workers’ isolation may occur in gig employment in the sharing economy, which generates a weak perception of the organization and unpredictable work performance. Drawing on social exchange theory, this paper proposes a framework to explore the effect of psychological contract fulfillment on gig workers’ task performance from the perspective of the mediation of organizational identification and the moderation of the length of service. A total of 223 samples were recruited from Didi (a ride-hailing company in China) drivers. The results show that both transactional and relational psychological contract fulfillment can directly affect gig workers’ task performance and also indirectly affect it via organizational identification. When the length of service for the current company is taken into consideration, transactional contract fulfillment, as the representation of a company’s recognition of gig workers’ effort, has a stronger effect on the organizational identification of gig workers who have been working for the company for less than a year compared with those who have been working for a longer period. The results show no difference in the relationship between relational psychological contract and organizational identification between the two groups. Transactional psychological contract fulfillment exhibits the same significant effect on gig workers’ task performance in both groups. By contrast, relational psychological contract fulfillment has a stronger effect on long-serving Didi drivers than on those who joined the company within the year. These findings generate certain theoretical and practical implications for gig employment management in the sharing economy.

An examination of the relationship between careerism and organizational commitment, satisfaction, and performance

Purpose Using psychological contract theory as its foundation, the purpose of this paper is to examine the important, but under-explored, relationship between careerism and organizational attitudes among workers in India. Design/methodology/approach In total, 250 middle-level executives, working in six manufacturing plants of motorbike companies located in Northern India, were surveyed. Findings As hypothesized, careerism was found to be negatively related to affective commitment, organization satisfaction and perceived organizational performance. Contrary to expectations, however, careerism was positively related to continuance and normative commitment. Research limitations/implications The study is based on a cross-sectional survey. Also, because the motorbike industry is male dominated, all the executives surveyed are men. Practical implications Despite concerns that employees with more transactional relationships with their employers are no longer loyal to their organizations, this study demonstrates that Indian employees with a higher careerism also have higher levels of normative and continuance organizational commitment. Originality/value Prior research has produced conflicting results as to whether employees with more careerist, transactional psychological contracts with their employers have more negative organizational attitudes. This study contributes to research on psychological contract theory and careerism in today’s turbulent career landscape while also answering calls to examine the generalizability of western theories of careers in non-western countries.

The Role of Organizational Culture Factors to Psychological Contracts (Transactional Contracts, Balance Contracts, and Relational Contracts)

The exchange of relationships between employees and firms is influenced by the beliefs and values that hold the human resources in carrying out its obligations and its behavior within the organization. This study aims to determine how big the relationship and the role of organizational culture to psychological contracts. Data were collected using two scales, namely organizational culture scale, and psychological contract scale. The results showed that there was a very significant relationship between organizational culture and psychological contracts, with an effective contribution of 5.047 percent. Based on the analysis of the relationship between organizational culture factors with psychological contracts can be shown the result that the organizational identity factor has a positive and very significant relationship with the psychological contract, with an effective contribution of 10.609 percent. The results also show that the organizational identity factor has a positive and very significant relationship with the transactional psychological contract. The organizational identity factor has a positive and significant relationship with the balance psychological contract. Collective commitment factor and Stability of social system have a positive and very significant relationship with balance psychological contract. Collective commitment factors have a positive and highly significant relationship with the relational psychological contract.

How Does Psychological Contract Affect Employees' Job Involvement: Taking Organizational Emotional Commitment as the Intervening Variable

With the development of the era of knowledge economy, psychological contract, as the link between enterprises and employees, has a profound impact on employees' cognition, attitude and behavior, and plays a key role in employees' work investment and performance. In this study, 204 effective samples were collected from a well-known domestic human resource service institution, and the contingency relationship and mechanism between psychological contract and employee work investment were discussed. The results show that the transactional psychological contract and relational contract have 1significant positive effects on the employee's job engagement. The transactional and relational contracts have significant positive effects on organizational affective commitment. Organizational affective commitment has significant positive effect on employee's job involvement. Organizational affective commitment plays an intermediary role in the relationship between psychological contract and job involvement.

Turnover intention of public sector workers in South Africa across gender and race: The moderating role of psychological contract type and organisational commitment dimension

The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to investigate the relevance of gender and race to turnover intention among public sector workers (PSW) through the moderation of psychological contract type and organisational commitment dimension. The research hypotheses in this study set out to test relationships between psychological contract type and turnover intention and between organisational commitment dimension and turnover intention. Using gender and race as key variables, further hypotheses tested whether significant differences in PSW psychological contract type existed; whether differences in PSW organisational commitment dimensions were present; and whether significant relationships between psychological contract type, organisational commitment and turnover intention were found. A survey was conducted with 211 PSW in a provincial government department in the Western Cape, South Africa. In terms of turnover intention, the results showed that coloured and white PSW were the groups that showed a positive relationship between transactional psychological contracts and an intention to leave the public sector. For white PSW, this was paradoxically coupled with high levels of continuance commitment. This is a significant finding because high levels of this form of commitment temper the turnover intention of this group. Across gender and race, relational psychological contracts were positively correlated with affective and normative commitment and inversely related to turnover intention. PSW holding relational psychological contracts experienced high levels of emotional attachment and loyalty to the public sector which contributed significantly to a desire to remain with their employer. The study addresses a conspicuous and important gap in the literature and suggests a number of recommendations for public sector management in South Africa in the light of the findings.

The effect of demographics on the psychological contract of employees

The psychological contract provides a framework for understanding employee-employer relationships within an organisation. This paper is based on research on Canadian academics and aims to determine the effect demographic characteristics, such as the age, gender and educational background, have on the psychological contract of academics working in higher education institutions. The research contributes to the literature by investigating the psychological contract from the perspectives of the relational, transactional and balanced contract types. The research also combines two existing tools – psychological contract inventory and the HR practice scale – to gather data on the types of psychological contract developed by academics and the perception academics have on the HR practices of their employers. The study was based on quantitative analysis of a cross-sectional survey in addition to a literature review. Overall the findings suggest that, while gender and age had a positive impact on the transactional psychological contract of academics, there was no predictive relationship between education and type of psychological contract.

The effect of demographics on the psychological contract of employees

The psychological contract provides a framework for understanding employee-employer relationships within an organisation. This paper is based on research on Canadian academics and aims to determine the effect demographic characteristics, such as the age, gender and educational background, have on the psychological contract of academics working in higher education institutions. The research contributes to the literature by investigating the psychological contract from the perspectives of the relational, transactional and balanced contract types. The research also combines two existing tools – psychological contract inventory and the HR practice scale – to gather data on the types of psychological contract developed by academics and the perception academics have on the HR practices of their employers. The study was based on quantitative analysis of a cross-sectional survey in addition to a literature review. Overall the findings suggest that, while gender and age had a positive impact on the transactional psychological contract of academics, there was no predictive relationship between education and type of psychological contract.

Contrato psicológico en empleados mexicanos: Creencias de obligaciones relacionales y transaccionales

Se examinan las creencias de una muestra de empleados mexicanos sobre las obligaciones recíprocas en la relación empleado-empleador, con base en los tipos de Contrato Psicológico Relacional y Transaccional. Se realizó un estudio no experimental, correlacional, transversal. Participaron 345 empleados de diversas organizaciones de la Ciudad de México. Se pusieron a prueba modelos PATH sobre la relación de las creencias del empleado sobre las obligaciones empleado-empleador. En el modelo Relacional, se identificaron antecedentes sobre las creencias de Lealtad y Seguridad, el modelo mostró menos variables independientes con un mayor nivel predictivo. En el modelo Transaccional se identificaron más variables independientes relacionadas con un menor nivel predictivo. Se señala la necesidad de proponer modelos predictivos con otras variables, como el compromiso, la justicia y la adherencia organizacional, la satisfacción laboral, el desempeño y la rotación. Esta investigación contribuye a la Teoría del Intercambio Social en las Organizaciones y la dinámica del Contrato Psicológico como un enfoque que puede ayudar en la definición de estrategias, políticas organizacionales y prácticas orientadas a relaciones laborales sanas en México.

Apology, Restitution, and Forgiveness After Psychological Contract Breach

Using forgiveness theory, we investigated the effects of organizational apology and restitution on eliciting forgiveness of a transgressing organization after transactional psychological contract breach. Forgiveness theory proposes that victims are more likely to forgive offenders when victims’ positive offender-oriented emotions replace negative ones. Three pre-post laboratory experiments, using vignettes about a broken promise of financial aid, found that while apology-alone and restitution-alone each increased likelihood of forgiving, restitution-alone was the more effective of the two responses. When combined with an apology, restitution boosted the effect of apology-alone. However, restitution was unnecessary if positive emotions replaced negative ones; third-party blame accomplished this negative-to-positive emotion replacement. Consistent with forgiveness theory, offender-oriented negative-to-positive emotion replacement partially mediated all effects, and negative emotion reductions were strongly correlated with positive emotion gains. We discuss implications for the repair of damaged norms and relationships within an organizational community. These include reparative effects of apology and restitution, dual-process conceptions of violation and repair, repair after psychological contract breach, and emotion replacement models of forgiveness.

The dark triad and knowledge hiding

By drawing on psychological contract theory, this study examined the effects of the dark triad of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) on knowledge hiding within organizations. We obtained 251 matched-pair data from respondents in a manufacturing company. Results showed that all three dimensions of the dark triad were positively related to knowledge hiding through transactional psychological contract. Different dimensions of the dark triad were most strongly related to different knowledge hiding strategies. Furthermore, gender moderated the relationships between narcissism and psychopathy with transactional psychological contract. The indirect relationships between narcissism and psychopathy with knowledge hiding via transactional psychological contract were stronger for men than women.

Leader-member exchange and employee creativity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of LMX in the relationship between knowledge sharing and employee creativity and the extent to which this mediating role is moderated by transactional psychological contract.Design/methodology/approachA total of 286 employees working at the theme park in Taiwan and then analyzed using a structuring equation model with SPSS 12.0, LISREL 8.8 and SPSS PROCESS.FindingsResults suggested that LMX mediated the relationship between knowledge sharing and employee creativity. Also, results suggested that transactional psychological contract moderated this mediating pathway: low transactional psychological contract increases the mediating role of LMX. Furthermore, the study showed that LMX can buffer the negative effects of transactional psychological contract on employee creative performance.Originality/valueThe originality of this study is to explore whether there is a moderated mediation model relationship among research variables and contributed to the LMX literature because there are few studies to discuss how knowledge sharing might stimulate creative outcome through LMX.

Psychological Contract Fulfillment and Employee Responses to Pay System Change

Abstract. The implementation of a new pay system is a balancing act that produces uncertainty and draws employees’ attention to the fulfillment of exchange agreements. Transformational leadership may be essential during these change processes. Based on psychological contract theory, we expected that transformational leadership impacts job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment through the fulfillment of relational psychological contracts, while the fulfillment of transactional psychological contracts may be crucial for employees’ pay and bonus satisfaction. We assessed 143 employees nested within 34 teams before and after (24 months) a pay for performance (pfp) system was introduced. Our results supported the mediation hypotheses considering job and pay satisfaction, but not considering commitment. Unexpectedly, the effect on bonus satisfaction was mediated via relational psychological contracts.

A Multilevel Examination of High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective

Drawing on social exchange theory, this study investigated the cross-level influence of high-performance work systems on organizational citizenship behavior, and verified the mediating role of psychological contract and the moderating effect of Chinese traditionality. With a sample of 51 enterprises and 1015 employees, results from cross-level analyses indicated that: (1) High-performance work systems had a significant positive impact on employees’ organizational citizenship behavior. (2) High-performance work systems enhanced organizational citizenship behavior through the improvement of relational psychological contract and balanced psychological contract, at the same time, the high-performance work system could improve the organizational citizenship behavior by reducing transactional psychological contract. (3) Balanced psychological contract and relational psychological contract had a significant positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior, and the relationship with employee’s organizational citizenship behavior was stronger for the balanced psychological contract, while transactional psychological contract had a significant negative impact on organizational citizenship behavior. (4) Chinese traditionality moderated the relationship between psychological contracts and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: MODERATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizations are fostering knowledge management practices by highlighting the obligations and rights of the employer and employees at the workplace. A culture of trust and knowledge sharing can increase the awareness of rights, obligations, and responsibilities. This study is conducted with the aims to examine the relationship between psychological contract and knowledge management practices by using the interactive role of organizational culture. For these objectives, data were collected from faculty members of private and public colleges and universities. Knowledge management practices have a significant and positive relationship with relational psychological contract and transactional psychological contract. Furthermore, organizational culture has increased the relationship between psychological contract and knowledge management practices. The results are beneficial to understand the unique relationships among the variables used for this study.