Values and psychological contracts in their relationship to commitment in the workplace

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine relationships between individual‐level values, psychological contracts, and six workplace commitment forms (organizational, occupational, group, work, job, union). It also seeks to examine whether individual values and psychological contracts relate to commitment forms when controlling for demographic variables.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 313 employees of a major bank in Israel took part in this survey study.

Findings

The findings show that individual values, particularly those that represent more traditional and conservative values, relate to commitment forms above and beyond the effect of the demographic variables. The results also show strong positive relationships between relational contracts and all of the commitment forms.

Research limitations/implications

The study relied upon a snapshot‐in‐time survey design. Such a design consists of a single observation with no control group and limited control over the effects of variables. Also, only one professional group, bank employees, was examined here, and one should be cautious about generalizing the results to other occupational groups.

Originality/value

An important contribution of this study is the examination of the psychological contract in its relationship to commitment, a relationship thus far little examined in the literature. Another important contribution of this study is its exploration of how psychological contracts relate to other forms of commitment in addition to organizational commitment.

Citation

Cohen, A. (2011), "Values and psychological contracts in their relationship to commitment in the workplace", Career Development International, Vol. 16 No. 7, pp. 646-667. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620431111187272