The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of psychological contract violation (PCV) as a mediating variable in the relations between psychological contract breach (PCB) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of psychological contract violation (PCV) as a mediating variable in the relations between psychological contract breach (PCB) and work‐related attitudes and behaviors. In addition, this study aims to expand the generalizability of psychological contract theories by examining service‐oriented employees rather than a population of managers as in most research on PCB.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 196 service‐oriented employees working in the USA. Factor analyses (principal components, varimax rotation) were conducted on all the variables in the study to determine the factorial independence of the constructs. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the main effects and mediating hypotheses.
Findings
The findings are consistent with the proposed mediation model of the study. PCV was found to fully mediate the relations between PCB and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intentions to quit, perceived organizational support, service delivery, service‐oriented organizational citizenship behavior, and participation service‐oriented organizational citizenship behavior. PCV was found to partially mediate the relation between PCB and loyalty service‐oriented organizational citizenship behavior. PCV was not found to mediate the relation between PCB and in‐role job performance.
Research limitations/implications
The use of a cross‐sectional non‐experimental design does not allow for definitive conclusions regarding causality and there is a possibility that the results may be influenced by common method variance.
Practical implications
Managers need to carefully consider and manage the psychological contracts of their subordinates from a cognitive perspective (PCB) and an affective perspective (PCV).
Originality/value
The paper empirically examines the PCB‐PCV Outcomes model using a sample of service‐oriented employees.
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Mark M. Suazo and William H. Turnley
The purpose of this paper is to examine relations between five individual differences variables (positive affectivity, negative affectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine relations between five individual differences variables (positive affectivity, negative affectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity sensitivity, and Protestant work ethic) and the perception of psychological contract breach (PCB), and whether those relations are mediated by perceived organizational support (POS).
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 234 professional (i.e. white‐collar) employees in the USA. Regression analyses were conducted to test the proposed relations and mediating hypotheses.
Findings
In line with the hypothesized predictions, the findings indicate that POS fully mediated the relations between four out of the five individual difference variables examined (i.e. positive affectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity sensitivity, Protestant work ethic) and perceived PCB. In addition, POS partially mediated the relation between negative affectivity and perceived PCB.
Research limitations/implications
The use of a cross‐sectional, non‐experimental, design does not allow for conclusions to be drawn regarding causality and it is possible that the reported results may have been influenced by common method variance. Future research should examine additional individual differences and workplace contextual features.
Practical implications
Managers need to realize that some determinants of perceived PCB, and POS for that matter, are likely to be unrelated to organizational actions. Rather, perceived PCB and POS may result, in part, from an employee's individual characteristics.
Originality/value
This is the first study to provide empirical evidence that positive affectivity, negative affectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity sensitivity, and Protestant work ethic may predict the perception of PCB and that POS may mediate these relations.
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Mark M. Suazo and Eugene F. Stone‐Romero
This study aims to investigate the assumed direct and indirect effects of psychological contract breach (breach) on supervisor‐rated employee behaviors of in‐role performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the assumed direct and indirect effects of psychological contract breach (breach) on supervisor‐rated employee behaviors of in‐role performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) directed at an individual (OCBI), and OCB directed at the organization (OCBO). The assumed indirect effects are to be investigated with psychological contract violation (violation) as a mediator of these relations. In addition, perceived organizational support (perceived support) is to be examined as a moderator of the same relations.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 1,013 employees working in the USA and hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that: breach is negatively related to supervisor‐rated in‐role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO; breach is positively related to violation and that violation in turn is negatively related to supervisor‐rated in‐role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO; and perceived support can strengthen the positive relation between breach and violation, and the negative relations between breach or violation and supervisor‐rated employee behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
The use of a non‐experimental design does not allow for definitive conclusions regarding causality.
Practical implications
Managers should be aware of the potential negative implications of the escalation of breach to violation on employee behaviors and the value of understanding that the level of perceived support may influence employee behaviors following breach or violation.
Originality/value
This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by being the first to examine perceived support as a moderator of the relations between breach or violation and supervisor‐rated in‐role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO.
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Muhammad Umer Azeem, Sami Ullah Bajwa, Khuram Shahzad and Haris Aslam
This paper investigates the role of psychological contract violation (PCV) as the antecedent of employee turnover intention. It also explores the role of job dissatisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the role of psychological contract violation (PCV) as the antecedent of employee turnover intention. It also explores the role of job dissatisfaction and work disengagement as the sequential underlying mechanism of a positive effect of PCV on employee turnover intention.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), the authors postulate that PCV triggers negative reciprocity behaviour in employees, which leads to job dissatisfaction and work disengagement, which in turn develop into turnover intentions. The authors tested the research model on time-lagged data from 200 managers working in the banking sector of Pakistan.
Findings
The findings confirmed the hypothesis that employees experiencing PCV raise their turnover intentions because of a feeling of organisational betrayal which makes them dissatisfied and detached from their work.
Originality/value
This research advances the body of knowledge in the area of psychological contracts by identifying the mechanisms through which PCVs translate into employee turnover intentions.
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Karen Sears and Gail Sears Humiston
The purpose of this paper is to examine leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) as moderators of the relationship between psychological contract…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) as moderators of the relationship between psychological contract violation and workplace incivility.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was administered to employed adults.
Findings
The association between violation and incivility was more pronounced when levels of LMX and POS were higher.
Research limitations/implications
The correlation design limits the ability to draw causal inferences. Affect models, including but not limited to affect infusion model (AIM), offer a useful framework for enhancing understanding of incivility and other forms of counterproductive work behaviors.
Practical implications
The study has contributed to knowledge about contract violation’s implications for work behaviors, such as incivility. Managers sensitive to the dynamics of contract breach may prevent feelings of violation by communicating clearly and often about expectations, resources, and procedures.
Social implications
Organizational and societal leaders may be well served by knowledge about preventing people’s intense responses to perceived violation by appropriately responding to perceived breach.
Originality/value
The study draws upon AIM as a novel approach to understanding conditions under which negative emotions are most likely to relate to workplace incivility. Moreover, the roles of social exchange variables LMX and POS have heretofore been unexplored as moderators of the violation-incivility relationship.
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Dirk De Clercq and Imanol Belausteguigoitia
The 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…
Abstract
Purpose
The 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/approach
Survey data were collected from employees in a large organization in the automobile sector.
Findings
Employees’ 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 implications
For 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/value
This 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.
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The PMI Risk Framework (PRF) is introduced as a guide to classifying and identifying risks which can be the source of post-merger integration (PMI) failure — commonly referred to…
Abstract
The PMI Risk Framework (PRF) is introduced as a guide to classifying and identifying risks which can be the source of post-merger integration (PMI) failure — commonly referred to as “culture clash.” To provide managers with actionably insight, PRF dissects PMI risk into specific relationship-oriented phenomena, critical to outcomes and which should be addressed during PMI. This framework is a conceptual and theory-grounded integration of numerous perspectives, such as organizational psychology, group dynamics, social networks, transformational change, and nonlinear dynamics. These concepts are unified and can be acted upon by integration managers. Literary resources for further exploration into the underlying aspects of the framework are provided. The PRF places emphasis on critical facets of PMI, particularly those which are relational in nature, pose an exceptionally high degree of risk, and are recurrent sources of PMI failure. The chapter delves into relationship-oriented points of failure that managers face when overseeing PMI by introducing a relationship-based, PMI risk framework. Managers are often not fully cognizant of these risks, thus fail to manage them judiciously. These risks do not naturally abide by common scholarly classifications and cross disciplinary boundaries; they do not go unrecognized by scholars, but until the introduction of PRF the risks have not been assimilated into a unifying framework. This chapter presents a model of PMI risk by differentiating and specifying numerous types of underlying human-relationship-oriented risks, rather than considering PMI cultural conflict as a monolithic construct.
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Khaldoun I. Ababneh, Raed Ababneh, Mohammed Al Waqfi and Evangelos Dedousis
This study draws on affective events theory (AET) to propose and examine a sequential process in which expatriate employees’ perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breaches…
Abstract
Purpose
This study draws on affective events theory (AET) to propose and examine a sequential process in which expatriate employees’ perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breaches impact their emotions (feelings of violation), which in turn influence their attitudes and ultimately their behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
Expatriate employees (n = 228) working in the United Arab Emirates participated in an experiment with four employment scenarios created by manipulating transactional and relational PC promises. Participants, randomly assigned to each scenario, responded as if in a real job situation. Data analysis was performed using MANCOVA and structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
Employing an experimental design, the findings offer causal evidence that supervisors’ failure to fulfill employment promises adversely impacts expatriate employees’ perceptions of PC breaches, emotions, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions and performance. Consistent with the AET, the findings demonstrate that PC breaches impact expatriate employees’ emotions, which subsequently influence their attitudes and ultimately affect their behaviors.
Practical implications
The study provides recommendations for organizations and managers to improve relationships with expatriate employees and suggests actions to lessen the adverse effects of PC breaches.
Originality/value
To our knowledge, this is the first study that examined the sequential process suggested by the AET in the context of PC and expatriation, establishing that PC breaches impact expatriate employees’ emotions, which in turn affect their attitudes and ultimately their behaviors.
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Jaron Harvey, Mark C. Bolino and Thomas K. Kelemen
For decades organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been of interest to scholars and practitioners alike, generating a significant amount of research exploring the concept…
Abstract
For decades organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been of interest to scholars and practitioners alike, generating a significant amount of research exploring the concept of what citizenship behavior is, and its antecedents, correlates, and consequences. While these behaviors have been and will continue to be valuable, there are changes in the workplace that have the potential to alter what types of OCBs will remain important for organizations in the future, as well as what types of opportunities for OCB exist for employees. In this chapter we consider the influence of 10 workplace trends related to human resource management that have the potential to influence both what types of citizenship behaviors employees engage in and how often they may engage in them. We build on these 10 trends that others have identified as having the potential to shape the workplace of the future, which include labor shortages, globalization, immigration, knowledge-based workers, increase use of technology, gig work, diversity, changing work values, the skills gap, and employer brands. Based on these 10 trends, we develop propositions about how each trend may impact OCB. We consider not only how these trends will influence the types of citizenship and opportunities for citizenship that employees can engage in, but also how they may shape the experiences of others related to OCB, including organizations and managers.
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Dirk De Clercq, Muhammad Umer Azeem and Inam Ul Haq
This study unpacks the relationship between violations of organizational promises, as perceived by employees and their job performance, considering the mediating effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study unpacks the relationship between violations of organizational promises, as perceived by employees and their job performance, considering the mediating effects of job-related anxiety and moderating effects of psychological contract type.
Design/methodology/approach
Multi-source, multi-wave data were collected from employees and their supervisors in Pakistan.
Findings
Feelings of organizational betrayal may reduce job performance due to the higher anxiety that employees experience in their daily work. This mediating role of enhanced job-related anxiety in turn is stronger to the extent that employees believe that their psychological contract contains relational obligations but weaker when it contains transactional obligations.
Practical implications
The study gives organizational decision makers pertinent insights into how they can mitigate the risk that employees who are angry about broken organizational promises stay away from performance-enhancing work activities, namely, by managing the expectations that come along with psychological contracts. In so doing, they can avoid imposing dual harms on employees, from both a sense that they have been betrayed and the risk of lower performance ratings.
Originality/value
This study offers expanded insights into the process that underpins the translation of psychological contract violations into diminished job performance, by pinpointing the simultaneous roles of experienced job-related anxiety and beliefs about employer obligations.