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Psychological Contract (psychological + contract)
Terms modified by Psychological Contract Selected AbstractsBREACH AND FULFILLMENT OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT: A COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL AND EXPANDED VIEWSPERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2003LISA SCHURER LAMBERT Breach and fulfillment in a psychological contract has traditionally been studied with approaches that are conceptually and methodologically limited. We compared predictions derived from the traditional view to predictions from an expanded view that maintains the distinction between promised and delivered inducements and examines their joint relationship with employee satisfaction. The traditional and expanded views were compared using longitudinal data and polynomial regression analysis. Results provided little support for the traditional view. In contrast, results supported the expanded view and revealed that relationships for breach and fulfillment are more complex than previously suggested. Specifically, satisfaction depended on whether breach represented deficient or excess inducements and the particular inducement under consideration. Moreover, satisfaction was more strongly related to delivered inducements than promised inducements. These results question basic tenets of psychological contract research and indicate new avenues for research that build on the expanded view developed in this article. [source] Contingent and Non-Contingent Working in Local Government: Contrasting Psychological ContractsPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2002Jacqueline A-M. Given that the contingent worker is likely to be a familiar presence in the public service workplace of the future, this paper explores the consequences of contingent work arrangements on the attitudes and behaviour of employees using the psychological contract as a framework for analysis. Drawing upon survey evidence from a sample of permanent, fixed term and temporary staff employed in a British local authority, our results suggest that contract status plays an important role in how individuals view the exchange relationship with their employer and how they respond to the inducements received from that relationship. Specifically, contingent employees are less committed to the organization and engage in organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) to a lesser degree than their permanent counterparts. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the relationship between the inducements provided by the employer and OCB is stronger for contingent employees. Such findings have implications for the treatment of contingent and non-contingent employees in the public services. [source] Capital gains: expatriate adjustment and the psychological contract in international careersHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2009Arno Haslberger Abstract This paper argues that the notion of adjustment to careers involving international assignments needs to be developed further than the current literature reflects. An expatriate assignment is an expatriate's opportunity to build career capital and a company's opportunity to generate social and intellectual capital. The extent of the capital gains will depend considerably on the expatriate's adjustment during and after the assignment, which is influenced by the psychological contract. We argue that our understanding of the career impact of expatriation will be enhanced by a more refined picture of the adjustment that expatriates experience during the assignment and during repatriation. In particular, we examine adjustment as process rather than as event. We propose a broad conception of expatriate adjustment and its link to careers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Relational quality and innovative performance in R&D based science and technology firmsHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006Marc Thompson The knowledge-based view of the firm implies that the innovative performance of R&D based organisations is strongly influenced by the quality of their relational capital. However, the quality of the employment relationship has been underplayed in this perspective. A model is developed that tests the quality of three dimensions of the employment relationship , the psychological contract, affective commitment and knowledge-sharing behaviours , and their consequences for innovative performance amongst 429 R&D employees in six different science and technology based firms. Analysis found that affective commitment plays an important role in mediating psychological contract fulfilment on knowledge-sharing behaviour, which in turn is strongly related to innovative performance. More specifically, fulfilment of the job design dimension of the psychological contract has an independent positive association with innovative performance, whereas fulfilment of the performance pay dimension is negatively associated. [source] Working to live or living to work?HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004Work/life balance early in the career This article reports the findings of research that explored relationships between work/life balance, work/non-work conflict, hours worked and organisational commitment among a sample of graduates in the early years of their career. It concludes that, although graduates seek work/life balance, their concern for career success draws them into a situation where they work increasingly long hours and experience an increasingly unsatisfactory relationship between home and work. The article discusses the causes and potential consequences of this predicament and in particular how work/non-work conflict is linked to hours worked, the state of the psychological contract and organisational commitment. It highlights the role of organisations' policy and practice in helping to manage the relationship between work and non-work and the development of organisational commitment through support for younger employees' lives out-of-work and effective management of aspects of the psychological contract. [source] Communicating the psychological contract: an employer perspectiveHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002David E. Guest The concept of the psychological contract, with its focus on the exchange of perceived promises and commitments, is increasingly used as a framework to study the employment relationship. Yet research has predominantly focused on employee views and has largely neglected the organisational perspective and the management of the psychological contract. This article begins to redress the balance by reporting a study, based on a survey of 1,306 senior HR managers, that explores the management of the psychological contract and in particular the role of organisational communication. Three distinct and relevant aspects of organisational communication are identified, concerned with initial entry, day-to-day work and more future-oriented, top-down communication. Effective use of these forms of communication is associated with what managers judge to be a clearer and less frequently breached set of organisational promises and commitments, as well as with a fairer exchange and a more positive impact of policies and practices on employee attitudes and behaviour. The findings are discussed within the context of the wider literature on psychological contracts, organisational culture and HRM. The study confirms that the psychological contract offers managers a useful framework within which to consider and manage the employment relationship. [source] The psychological contract: A critical reviewINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 2 2006Niall Cullinane Literature on the psychological contract has blossomed progressively over the last ten years to the extent that it is now firmly located within the lexicon of the Human Resource Management (HRM) discipline. Yet as this review indicates, the theoretical assumptions that seem to pervade the psychological contract literature are not without major deficiencies, which in turn pose serious questions around the continued sustainability of the construct as currently constituted. This paper addresses some of the central problems presently confronting the theoretical side of the psychological contract literature. In seeking to advance knowledge and understanding, this review calls for an alternative approach to studying the psychological contract on the basis of a more critical and discursive literature analysis. From this, the authors unpick the construct of the psychological contract as portrayed in much of the extant literature and argue that, in its present form, it symbolizes an ideologically biased formula designed for a particular managerialist interpretation of contemporary work and employment. [source] Making Sense of a New Employment Relationship: Psychological Contract-Related Information Seeking and the Role of Work Values and Locus of ControlINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 1 2005Ans De Vos This paper explores the information-seeking behaviors newcomers engage in relating to their psychological contract and addresses the impact of work values (autonomy, advancement, group orientation and economic rewards) and work locus of control (LOC). We propose that these individual characteristics could explain differences in the frequency with which newcomers search for information about the promises their employer has made to them. A two-wave longitudinal study was conducted in which 527 newcomers from eight organizations participated. The results largely support the proposed relationships between work values and contract-related information seeking, while the relation between work LOC and contract-related information seeking is rather weak. Implications for psychological contract formation are discussed. [source] Improving judgement with prepaid expert adviceJOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING, Issue 3 2004Janet A. Sniezek Abstract Decision makers ("Judges") often make decisions after obtaining advice from an Advisor. The two parties often share a psychological "contract" about what each contributes in expertise to the decision and receives in monetary outcomes from it. In a laboratory experiment, we varied Advisor Experitise and the opportunity for monetary rewards. As expected, these manipulations influenced advice quality, advice taking, and Judge post-advice decision quality. The main contribution of the study, however, was the manipulation of the timing of monetary rewards (before or after the advising interaction). We found, as predicted, that committing money for expert,but not novice,advice increases Judges' use of advice and their subsequent estimation accuracy. Implications for advice giving and taking are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Age, work experience, and the psychological contractJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 8 2009Thomas W. H. Ng The purpose of the current paper is to examine the ways in which age and work experience shape how individuals experience psychological contract breaches. We first introduce the concepts of contract malleability (the degree to which individuals can tolerate deviations from contract expectations) and contract replicability (the degree to which individuals believe that their psychological contracts can be replicated elsewhere). Next, we discuss the variety of reasons why contract malleability and replicability become greater with age and work experience and how contract malleability and replicability may temper negative reactions to psychological contract breaches. We also address the different ways contract malleability and replicability mediate the relationships between age and work experience, on one hand, and exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect behaviors on the other. We consider the moderating effects of age similarity and dissimilarity here as well. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future research designs and for managing older and more experienced workers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The psychological contract and the transition from full to part-time police workJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 1 2006Penny Dick The cognitive-perceptual conceptualisation of the psychological contract has dominated research in this field. In this paper, it is argued that locating the psychological contract at the level of the individual-organisational relationship can offer rich insights into psychological contract dynamics. Using qualitative interview data from a research study exploring how managers and part-timers deal with the transition from full to part-time police work in the UK, it is argued that a multi-perspective conceptualisation of the sources of the psychological contract is critical for understanding processes that lead to non-mutuality of understandings. Specifically, it is argued that the institutional and organisational context, embedded in the actions of third parties and in management practices, can undermine the extent to which the manager and the employee can reach agreement about mutual obligations. The theoretical and policy implications of this position are developed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Cultural variation and the psychological contractJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 5 2003David C. Thomas Literature on the psychological contract has made significant contributions to our understanding of the exchange relationship between employees and their employer. However, the influence of cultural differences on perceptions of the employment relationship has largely been neglected. We propose both cognitive and motivational mechanisms through which the cultural profiles of individuals influence (a) formation of the psychological contract, (b) perceptions of violations of the psychological contract, and (c) responses to perceived violations. General mechanisms for the influence of culture on the psychological contract are followed by specific examples of the influence of individualism and collectivism. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A daily diary study of affective responses to psychological contract breach and exceeded promisesJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 3 2002Neil Conway The psychological contract has been viewed as an explanatory framework for understanding the employment relationship, and is regarded by some researchers as central in understanding employee attitudes and behavior. Despite the importance ascribed to the psychological contract, it remains theoretically underdeveloped and has received limited empirical attention. This study takes a new approach to researching the psychological contract, through the use of daily diaries, and addresses a number of fundamental questions regarding its nature. Results show that both broken and exceeded promises occur regularly and in relation to virtually any aspect of work, that the importance of the promise contributes significantly to emotional reactions following broken and exceeded promises, and that the psychological contract is an important concept for understanding everyday fluctuations in emotion and daily mood. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A theoretical and empirical extension to the transformational leadership constructJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 7 2001Vicki L. Goodwin The contingent rewards subscale of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was examined in an attempt to theoretically explain recent empirical results linking contingent rewards to transformational rather than transactional leadership. In Study 1, we supported the proposal that the items in the contingent rewards subscale represented two separate factors, an explicit and an implicit psychological contract. In addition, the implicit factor loaded with other transformational subscales and the explicit factor loaded with other transactional subscales. We confirmed these results in Study 2, and supported other hypotheses from transformational leadership theory using the contingent rewards revision. Implications for the transformational leadership construct are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Promises Made, Promises Broken: An Exploration of Employee Attraction and Retention Practices in Small BusinessJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2001Jill Kickul Entrepreneurial organizations have undergone substantial workforce changes and transformations during the last two decades in order to compete successfully on a global scale. The ability to attract and retain reliable and competent employees has become a key component in developing an effective and sustainable competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the psychological contract and the types of promises made and communicated by small business organizations to attract and retain their employees. From a sample of 151 employees within small businesses, the results demonstrate that perceived unfulfilled promises can have a considerable impact on workplace attitudes, commitment, and intentions to leave the organization. Implications and recommendations for small businesses as well as directions for future research are discussed. [source] BREACH AND FULFILLMENT OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT: A COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL AND EXPANDED VIEWSPERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2003LISA SCHURER LAMBERT Breach and fulfillment in a psychological contract has traditionally been studied with approaches that are conceptually and methodologically limited. We compared predictions derived from the traditional view to predictions from an expanded view that maintains the distinction between promised and delivered inducements and examines their joint relationship with employee satisfaction. The traditional and expanded views were compared using longitudinal data and polynomial regression analysis. Results provided little support for the traditional view. In contrast, results supported the expanded view and revealed that relationships for breach and fulfillment are more complex than previously suggested. Specifically, satisfaction depended on whether breach represented deficient or excess inducements and the particular inducement under consideration. Moreover, satisfaction was more strongly related to delivered inducements than promised inducements. These results question basic tenets of psychological contract research and indicate new avenues for research that build on the expanded view developed in this article. [source] Contingent and Non-Contingent Working in Local Government: Contrasting Psychological ContractsPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2002Jacqueline A-M. Given that the contingent worker is likely to be a familiar presence in the public service workplace of the future, this paper explores the consequences of contingent work arrangements on the attitudes and behaviour of employees using the psychological contract as a framework for analysis. Drawing upon survey evidence from a sample of permanent, fixed term and temporary staff employed in a British local authority, our results suggest that contract status plays an important role in how individuals view the exchange relationship with their employer and how they respond to the inducements received from that relationship. Specifically, contingent employees are less committed to the organization and engage in organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) to a lesser degree than their permanent counterparts. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the relationship between the inducements provided by the employer and OCB is stronger for contingent employees. Such findings have implications for the treatment of contingent and non-contingent employees in the public services. [source] Modalités de travail à temps plein ou partiel et son influence sur les attitudes et comportements au travail: L'effet médiateur de la violation du contrat psychologiqueCANADIAN JOURNAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES, Issue 4 2006Tania Saba Résumé Pour répondre à leurs besoins de flexibilité, employeurs et employés sont plus ouverts au travail à temps partiel. Or, les études rapportent des résultats mitigés quant à son incidence sur les comportements au travail. Le concept du contrat psychologique permet d'identifier la nature de la relation d'emploi et constitue un cadre explicatif intéressant des différences de comportements entre des employés détenant divers statuts d'emploi. Notre étude, basée sur 275 employés, examine les différences d'influence du travail à temps partiel et à temps plein sur l'intention de quitter, l'engagement organisationnel, la satisfaction et la négligence au travail en notant l'effet médiateur de la perception de violation du contrat psychologique. Abstract Employers and employees are open to part-time work as a way to better respond to the need for flexibility. However, research findings comparing the work attitudes of part-time and full-time workers are inconclusive. The concept of the psychological contract makes it possible to identify the nature of the working relationship and constitutes an interesting explanatory framework for the differences in attitudes and behaviors between these two employment statuses. Our study, based on 275 employees, examines differences in influence of part-time and full-time work on the intention to leave, work satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work negligence by noting the mediator effect of the perception of violation of the psychological contract. [source] Sources of well-being and commitment of staff in the Australian Disability Employment ServicesHEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 2 2008Andrew Noblet PhD Abstract This study examined the role of working conditions in predicting the psychological health, job satisfaction and organisational commitment of personnel responsible for helping people with disabilities gain employment in the mainstream Australian labour market. The working conditions were assessed using two theories: the Job Strain Model (job demand, social support and job control) and Psychological Contract Theory (unwritten reciprocal obligations between employers and employees). In the case of the Job Strain Model, the generic dimensions had been augmented by industry-specific sources of stress. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in June and July 2005 with 514 staff returning completed questionnaires (representing a response rate of 30%). Comparisons between respondents and non-respondents revealed that on the basis of age, gender and tenure, the sample was broadly representative of employees working in the Australian disability employment sector at that time. The results of regression analyses indicate that social support was predictive of all of the outcome measures. Job control and the honouring of psychological contracts were both predictive of job satisfaction and commitment, while the more situation-specific stressors , treatment and workload stressors , were inversely related to psychological health (i.e. as concern regarding the treatment and workload stressors increased, psychological health decreased). Collectively, these findings suggest that strategies aimed at combating the negative effects of large-scale organisational change could be enhanced by addressing several variables represented in the models , particularly social support, job control, psychological contracts and sector-specific stressors. [source] Communicating the psychological contract: an employer perspectiveHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002David E. Guest The concept of the psychological contract, with its focus on the exchange of perceived promises and commitments, is increasingly used as a framework to study the employment relationship. Yet research has predominantly focused on employee views and has largely neglected the organisational perspective and the management of the psychological contract. This article begins to redress the balance by reporting a study, based on a survey of 1,306 senior HR managers, that explores the management of the psychological contract and in particular the role of organisational communication. Three distinct and relevant aspects of organisational communication are identified, concerned with initial entry, day-to-day work and more future-oriented, top-down communication. Effective use of these forms of communication is associated with what managers judge to be a clearer and less frequently breached set of organisational promises and commitments, as well as with a fairer exchange and a more positive impact of policies and practices on employee attitudes and behaviour. The findings are discussed within the context of the wider literature on psychological contracts, organisational culture and HRM. The study confirms that the psychological contract offers managers a useful framework within which to consider and manage the employment relationship. [source] Mutual expectations: a study of the three-way relationship between employment agencies, their client organisations and white-collar agency ,temps'INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2004Janet Druker ABSTRACT This paper examines the mutual expectations of employment agencies, the temporary workers who are placed by them and the client or host companies with whom they are placed. It considers the ambiguities and complexities inherent in the psychological contracts of agency temps, pointing to positive dimensions of the agency relationship with temps coupled with a tough transactional regime. In periods of uncertainty agency temping provided individuals with an illusion of freedom and control. [source] Age, work experience, and the psychological contractJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 8 2009Thomas W. H. Ng The purpose of the current paper is to examine the ways in which age and work experience shape how individuals experience psychological contract breaches. We first introduce the concepts of contract malleability (the degree to which individuals can tolerate deviations from contract expectations) and contract replicability (the degree to which individuals believe that their psychological contracts can be replicated elsewhere). Next, we discuss the variety of reasons why contract malleability and replicability become greater with age and work experience and how contract malleability and replicability may temper negative reactions to psychological contract breaches. We also address the different ways contract malleability and replicability mediate the relationships between age and work experience, on one hand, and exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect behaviors on the other. We consider the moderating effects of age similarity and dissimilarity here as well. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future research designs and for managing older and more experienced workers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Assessing the nature of psychological contracts: a validation of six dimensionsJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 4 2004Luc Sels The purpose of this study is to develop a feature-oriented assessment of psychological contracts, an underdeveloped approach to psychological contracts. Relying on theoretical frameworks in psychological contract research, industrial relations studies, and a cross-national study on psychological contracts, we identify six dimensions that capture the nature of psychological contracts: tangibility, scope, stability, time frame, exchange symmetry, and contract level. We validate this expanded conceptualization of psychological contracts by developing a nomological network and testing it in a large, representative sample of 1106 employees. The results indicate the significance of formal contract characteristics and HR practices as two antecedents shaping the nature of psychological contracts. In addition, the hypothesized relationships between the three dimensions of time frame, exchange symmetry, and contract level with affective commitment are confirmed as well as the relationships between tangibility, scope and flexibility with personal control. The results further indicate the importance of assessing both employer and employee obligations given the differential effect of the contract makers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A Typology of Organizational Membership: Understanding Different Membership Relationships Through the Lens of Social ExchangeMANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2009Christina L. Stamper abstract Using a social exchange perspective and responding to prior calls to separate resources exchanged from the relationship between parties, we develop a relationship typology based on rights and responsibilities arguments. We begin with the idea that various levels and types of rights and responsibilities are the exchange currency utilized by the employer and employee, respectively. Further, the degree to which an organization grants rights to an individual and the degree to which the individual voluntarily accepts responsibilities results in four distinct organizational membership profiles (i.e., peripheral, associate, detached, and full). We believe this membership typology is an important theoretical mechanism that may be used to link the exchange between the employee and employer (as represented by psychological contracts) to psychological attachment (as represented by perceived membership) between these two parties. Specifically, members in each profile will tend to have certain kinds of psychological attachments to the organization, causing them to (i) perceive membership in certain ways and (ii) behave in a manner consistent with that perception. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the propositions for both researchers and practitioners, as well as making suggestions for future research efforts. [source] Investigating the Moderating Effects of Leader,Member Exchange in the Psychological Contract Breach,Employee Performance Relationship: A Test of Two Competing PerspectivesBRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2010Simon Lloyd D. Restubog Leader,member exchange (LMX) has been characterized as a form of social support capable of buffering the effects of negative work experiences. However, employees with high-quality relationships with leaders in the organization may have stronger negative reactions when psychological contracts are breached. Thus, while a social support perspective would suggest that LMX minimizes the adverse impact of psychological contract breach on employee performance, a betrayal perspective proposes that high LMX would aggravate the negative effects. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, results across three samples provided support for the betrayal perspective. That is, breach had a stronger negative relationship with organizational citizenship behaviours and in-role performance under conditions of high LMX. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||