Psychological contract breach and work performance

By P. M. Bal, Dan S. Chiaburu, Paul G. W. Jansen. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2010

193 citations recorded by the source corpus.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate how social exchanges modify the relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance. It aims to present two concurrent hypotheses, based on theoretical interaction effects of social exchanges (conceptualized as social exchange relationships, POS, and trust).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of 266 employees in a service sector company in the USA. Regression analysis was used to explore the moderating effects of social exchanges on the relationships between psychological contract breach and work performance (operationalized as in‐role behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors).FindingsIt was found that the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance was moderated by social exchanges, such that the relationship was stronger for employees with high social exchange relationship, perceived organizational support, and trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected cross‐sectionally, and thus causal inferences have to be made with caution. Moreover, the data were collected from a single source. The study shows that the relations between contract breach and outcomes are moderated by the existing relationship between employee and organization.Practical implicationsAlthough organizations may invest in long‐term relationships with their employees, psychological contract breaches have a profound impact on work performance. Therefore, organizations should diminish perceptions of contract breach; for instance by providing realistic expectations.Originality/valueThe paper provides new theoretical insights on how social exchange can have two distinct effects on the breach‐outcomes relations. It shows that social exchanges moderate the relations between contract breach and work performance.

Subfields: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/53280dd92c579a358cd9baad5ae97b8c4fe146ed

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Citations in the corpus

Bouncing back from psychological contract breach: How commitment recovers over time (2016, background): “Moreover, the commitment trajectories of individuals before, during and after the event of a breach likely depend on contextual factors (Bal et al., 2010; Morrison & Robinson, 1997).”
The effects of perceived organizational support and job satisfaction on transfer of training (2015, background): “The rationale for this is based upon the notion that the employees themselves are the best source of information to measure POS (Bal et al., 2010) and job satisfaction (Spector, 1997).”
One job, one deal…or not: do generations respond differently to psychological contract fulfillment? (2016, background): “…to this norm of reciprocity (Gouldner 1960), when employers do not fulfill their promises and obligations, employees experience psychological contract breach and reciprocate by adapting their contributions to the organization (e.g. by reducing their efforts and performance; Bal et al. 2010).”
Understanding the changing nature of psychological contracts in 21st century organizations (2017, background): “Behavioral responses often include lower in-role work performance (Bal et al., 2010; Turnley et al., 2003; Turnley & Feldman, 1999b), reduced OCBs (Chambel & Alcover, 2011; Restubog, Bordia, & Tang, 2006; Restubog et al., 2010; Restubog, Hornsey, Bordia, & Esposo, 2008; Robinson & Morrison, 1995;…”
Effects of ideological and relational psychological contract breach and fulfilment on volunteers’ work effort (2014, result): “Finally, in line with previous PC research (e.g., Bal et al., 2010), we controlled for gender (0¼ female, 1¼male), age, educational level, and paid employment (in another organization) next to volunteering (0¼ not active as a paid employee, 1¼ active as a paid employee).”
Making sense of psychological contract breach (2011, background): “(2008) and Bal et al. (2010) have demonstrated that the quality and level of trust in the social exchange relationship have an effect on how employees evaluate contract breach and the extent to which they reciprocate.”