Effects of psychological contract breach on performance of IT employees: The mediating role of affective commitment

In this study, we investigated the relationships between psychological contract breach, affective commitment, and two types of employee performance (i.e. civic virtue behaviour and in‐role performance). It was predicted that an experience of contract breach can severely hurt the affective commitment of the employees and this, in turn, results in poor in‐role performance and less civic virtue behaviours. Results revealed that affective commitment had differential mediating effects on the two types of employee performance. That is, affective commitment mediated the relationship between breach and self‐reported and supervisor‐rated civic virtue, but not the relationship between breach and in‐role performance.     

Extra‐Role Behavior among Mexican Employees: The Impact of LMX,Group Acceptance,and Job Attitudes

The current field study took place within a Mexican work setting, consisting of 100 white‐collar employees representing a variety of professional job categories. The study investigated the direct effect of the supervisor–employee relationship (leader–member exchange) quality and group acceptance on employees' propensity to engage in activities beyond their formal work roles (extra‐role behavior). The mediating influences of the employees' job satisfaction level and organizational commitment were also taken into consideration when accounting for extra‐role behavior. Results suggest that relationships Mexican employees share with their supervisor have a direct impact on their extra‐role behavior. Social exchange, key to both extra‐role behavior and leader–member exchange, is proposed as the operating mechanism associating the two constructs. Results also indicate that organizational commitment plays a partial mediating role between leader–member exchange and extra‐role behavior.     

When does commitment backfire: Linking employee continuance commitment to silence behavior

IntroductionExtant studies on organizational commitment emphasize affective organizational commitment and consequently ignore the unique role of continuance organizational commitment. To determine whether high continuance commitment is beneficial, we employed conservation of resources theory to explore how continuance commitment leads to emotional exhaustion and silent behavior.ObjectiveThis study examines the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between continuance commitment and silence behavior, and the moderating role of age.MethodWe recruited 157 employees in China to complete a three-wave survey measuring continuance commitment, emotional exhaustion and silence behavior, respectively.ResultsOur results show that continuance commitment is positively related to emotional exhaustion and, in turn, triggers more silent behavior, especially for those old employees; the indirect effect is more significant.ConclusionAlthough employers intend to keep human resources, this study indicates that continuance commitment may bring negative consequences. Moreover, old age will magnify the effect of continuance commitment on emotional exhaustion and further strengthen silence behavior.     

When employees behave badly: the roles of contract importance and workplace familism in predicting negative reactions to psychological contract breach

In this paper, we examine the influence of contract importance, feelings of violation, and workplace familism on the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational deviance. Results from a study of 168 supervisor–employee dyads in a pharmaceutical organization suggest that (a) feelings of violation mediated the relationship between perceived breach and supervisor‐rated organizational deviance; (b) relational and transactional contract importance influenced the relationship between breach and feelings of violation such that the relationship was stronger under conditions of high relational and transactional importance; and (c) high levels of workplace familism mitigated the effects of feelings of violation on supervisor‐rated organizational deviance.     

Interpersonal Conflict and Organizational Commitment: Examining Two Levels of Supervisory Support as Multilevel Moderators1

Using a stressor‐strain framework, this research examined the role of supervisory support at 2 organizational levels in the relationship between the work stressor of interpersonal conflict and organizational commitment in a military sample. In all analyses, supervisory support at both levels was conceptualized and modeled as a shared group attribute. Results indicated that perceptions of interpersonal conflict within the organization were related negatively to both affective and continuance commitment. Support from both first‐line supervisors and midlevel managers was related to employees’ affective commitment. First‐line supervisor support was related also to employees’ continuance commitment. Furthermore, midlevel management support attenuated the relationship between interpersonal conflict and continuance commitment. Implications for the assessment of different levels of supervisory support, different variants of organizational commitment, and interpersonal conflict are discussed.     

The mitigating role of leader‒member exchange when perceiving psychological contract violation: a diary survey study among volunteers

Several scholars in the field of volunteering emphasized the pivotal role of psychological contract (PC) violation in explaining maladaptive behavioural reactions—such as counterproductive work behaviour (CWB)—of volunteers. Reactions to violation feelings are, however, interrelated and may intensify over time. Extending this dynamic perspective, we introduce momentary leader–member exchange (LMX) as a buffering social resource in the relationship between violation feelings and (1) CWB and (2) the likelihood to perceive a PC breach. Using weekly diary survey data from 247 volunteers (827 observations), we conducted a moderated multilevel zero-inflated Poisson regression analysis. As hypothesized, experiencing feelings of violation during one week related positively to CWB towards the organization (CWB-O), but not to CWB towards individuals (CWB-I) during the next week. Moreover, experiencing violation feelings during one week increased the likelihood to perceive a PC breach during the subsequent week. Finally, experiencing a high-quality LMX relationship effectively mitigated the positive relationship between violation feelings during one week and (1) CWB-O, and (2) the likelihood to perceive a PC breach during the next week. Our study highlights momentary LMX as an effective redressing mechanism in the relationship between violation feelings and undesirable employee outcomes.     

付出回报失衡与高校青年教师的焦虑：心理契约破裂的中介作用和过度承诺的调节作用

基于付出回报失衡模型,考察了高校青年教师的付出回报失衡与焦虑的关系。对336名高校青年教师进行了多时间点调查。结果显示：（1）付出回报失衡对高校青年教师的焦虑有显著正向预测作用;（2）付出回报失衡通过心理契约破裂间接影响高校青年教师的焦虑;（3）相较于低过度承诺教师,高过度承诺教师的付出回报失衡经由心理契约破裂对焦虑的影响更为突出。研究结果揭示了付出回报失衡对焦虑影响的过程机制和边界条件,对高校青年教师工作焦虑的改善有一定启示。     

The effects of psychological contract breach on union commitment

This research investigates the relationship between psychological contract breach and union commitment among 109 union employees. As expected, psychological contract breach is positively related to commitment to the union. The results also suggest that union instrumentality moderates the relationship between psychological contract breach and union commitment. Specifically, the findings indicate that the relationship between psychological contract breach and union commitment is stronger when individuals perceive that their union is highly instrumental in protecting their rights and benefits. Implications of this study are discussed and recommendations for future research are offered.     

Favoriser le développement professionnel avec le feedback : les engagements affectif et calculé envers l’objectif comme modérateurs de la relation intention–comportement

The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating role of affective and continuance goal commitment in the relationship between motivational intention to act on feedback and behavioural integration of feedback. In an individual psychological assessment context, 74 candidates who received feedback were recruited. Moderation analyses using hierarchical multiple regressions showed that affective and continuance goal commitments moderate the relationship between motivational intention to act on feedback and behavioural changes, three months later. This relationship is significant and positive only when the level of affective or continuance goal commitment is low. The relationship between motivational intention to change and engagement in developmental activities is not moderated by goal commitment.     

Job Satisfaction as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Job Stressors and Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment: A Path Analytical Approach

This article investigates the potential mediating role of job satisfaction between job stressors—namely, role overload-quantitative, role overload-qualitative, and lack of career development—as sources of stress on the one hand, and various facets of organizational commitment—namely, affective, continuance, and normative—on the other hand. A sample of 361 employees in a number of organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was used. Path analysis revealed that role overload-quantitative directly and negatively influences both job satisfaction and affective commitment and that lack of career development as a source of stress directly and negatively influences job satisfaction. Findings also suggest that job satisfaction mediates the influences of role overload-quantitative on various facets of organizational commitment. Implications, future lines of research, and limitations are discussed.     

Adaptation to increased work autonomy: The role of task reflection

Psychological contracts are a powerful concept in research on organizational behaviour. Substantial negative reactions towards perceived breaches to the psychological contract have been reported in many studies. There are sound theoretical arguments for the existence of a point in the continuous perception of contract breach, where sudden changes in attitudes occur in the relationship between breach and outcomes (i.e., thresholds). Using questionnaire data from 592 employees working in more than 30 different organizations across Germany, segmented regression models were tested against curvilinear effects for the relationship between breach of the psychological contract and job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, intention to quit, violation, and trust. This study provides empirical evidence for threshold models of psychological contract breach. The results imply that prior studies have underestimated the impact of psychological contract breach.     

Psychological contract breach and workplace deviance: Does emotional intelligence matter?

This study investigated the influence of emotional intelligence on the relationship between psychological contract breach and workplace deviance with feelings of violation. The participants were 232 employees of a Nigerian public sector organisation (125 males and 107 females). The employees completed measures of workplace deviance, psychological contract breach, feelings of violation, and emotional intelligence. Results of the moderated hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that psychological contract breach was positively related to feelings of violation and workplace deviance. Emotional intelligence significantly buffered the negative effect of psychological contract breach on feelings of violation and workplace deviance. This implies that emotionally intelligent employees who perceived contract breach are less likely to experience feelings of violation and engage in workplace deviance. Emotional regulation appears to reliably moderate between breach-outcome relationships.     

同事个性化契约对员工工作退缩行为的影响:基于公平理论的视角

个性化契约作为组织中一种非标准化的工作安排,以往研究较多关注其对契约获得者的积极效应,相对忽视了对未获得者的消极影响。鉴于此,本研究基于公平理论,探讨了同事个性化契约对员工工作退缩行为的影响及其内部机理。结果发现:同事个性化契约会引发员工的工作退缩行为,员工的心理契约违背在此过程中起部分中介作用;此外,员工与组织间较高的社会交换关系会削弱同事个性化契约对员工心理契约违背的正向影响。     

Five-factor model of personality and organizational commitment: The mediating role of positive and negative affective states

Using a one-year longitudinal study of four components of organizational commitment (affective, normative, continuance–sacrifices, and continuance–alternatives) on a sample of employees from multiple organizations (N = 220), we examined the relationships of employee Big-Five personality traits to employee commitment components, and the mediating role of positive and negative affective states. Personality was measured at Time 1 while affective states and commitment components were measured at Time 2, while controlling for Time 1 commitment. Extraversion and agreeableness were positively related to affective, normative, and continuance–sacrifices commitments via enhanced positive affect. Agreeableness was also positively linked to affective commitment and negatively associated with continuance–alternatives commitment through reduced negative affect. Finally, neuroticism was negatively linked to affective commitment, and positively related to continuance–alternatives commitment, through increased negative affect. The implications of these findings for our understanding of personality–commitment linkages are discussed.     

Breaking Psychological Contracts with the Burden of Workload: A Weekly Study of Job Resources as Moderators

This intra‐individual study examined relationships over time of job demands and resources with employee perceptions of psychological contract breach and violation, or the emotional impact of breach. Based on Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, we expected job demands to increase the susceptibility of experiencing contract breach and violation over time, and we expected this relationship to be moderated by available job resources. In particular, autonomy and social support were expected to buffer relationships of job demands with breach, while development was expected to intensify relationships between job demands and breach. For violation, we expected job resources to intensify the relationships between job demands and breach, in line with the betrayal hypothesis. Analyses on weekly diary data showed that weekly job demands were related to higher contract breach perceptions in the following week when autonomy and social support were low and when development was high. Moreover, weekly job demands were related to higher violation in the next week, especially when social support was high. The study shows that job demands may be related to higher odds of experiencing a breach and higher violation, and job resources may play opposite roles in moderating the relationships of job demands with breach and violation.     

An evaluation of a three-component model of occupational commitment: dimensionality and consequences among United Kingdom human resource management specialists

This study evaluated the J. P. Meyer, N. J. Allen, and C. A. Smith (1993) model of occupational commitment using a sample of 678 United Kingdom human resource management specialists. Support was found for the 3-component model, and findings suggest that the consequences of the affective, normative, and continuance components differ. Affective and continuance commitment were negatively related to occupational withdrawal cognitions, whereas normative commitment was negatively related to withdrawal cognitions only when continuance commitment was low. Affective and, to a lesser extent. normative commitment were related to intention to participate in professional activities. Continuance commitment had no significant relationship with intention to participate in professional activities.     

心理契约破坏感对员工工作态度和行为的影响

通过对398名企业员工的问卷调查,探讨了组织支持感(POS)和领导—部属交换(LMX)在心理契约破坏感对员工工作态度和行为影响中的中介作用。结果表明：（1）POS在心理契约破坏感与员工工作态度（组织认同和留职意愿）的关系中起中介作用,但POS只能部分中介心理契约破坏感与留职意愿的关系。（2）LMX在心理契约破坏感与员工组织公民行为（利他行为、个人主动性、人际和谐和保护公司资源）间起完全中介作用。（3）LMX对员工的工作态度（留职意愿和组织认同）不具有直接的影响作用,它主要是通过POS的中介对其产生间接的影响     

Psychological contract breach,affective commitment to organization and supervisor,and newcomer adjustment: A three-wave moderated mediation model

This study examines the relationship of psychological contract breach to newcomer adjustment outcomes using affective commitments to organizations and supervisors as mediators and also looks at the moderating role of affective commitment to supervisors. Drawing from data collected at three points in time among a sample of newcomers (N = 224), we found that Time 2 affective organizational commitment mediated a positive relationship between Time 1 psychological contract breach and Time 3 turnover intention and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, affective commitment to supervisors interacted with organizational commitment such that the latter was more negatively related to Time 3 outcomes at low levels of commitment to supervisors. Similarly, the indirect relationships of psychological contract breach to Time 3 outcomes were stronger and negative at low levels of commitment to supervisors. Affective commitment's role in the psychological contract breach-outcome relationships during the entry period is discussed.     

Work–family conflict,perceived supervisor support and organizational commitment among Brazilian professionals

The current study examines a variety of relationships pertaining to work–family conflict among a sample of Brazilian professionals, in order to shed light on work–family issues in this cultural context. Drawing from the cultural values of Brazil and social identity theory, we examine the relationships of two directions of work–family conflict (work interference with family and family interference with work), perceived supervisor support, and sex with affective and continuance organizational commitment. Work interference with family was related to higher continuance commitment and perceived supervisor support was related to higher affective commitment. An interaction between family interference with work and perceived supervisor support predicting continuance commitment revealed a reverse buffering effect such that the relationship was stronger under conditions of high support. Results are discussed within the Brazilian context.     

Psychological contract breach and job attitudes: A meta-analysis of age as a moderator

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of age in the relation between psychological contract breach and the development of job attitudes. Based on affective events, social exchange, and lifespan theory, we hypothesized that (1) psychological contract breach would be related negatively to job attitudes, and (2) that age would moderate these relations. The hypotheses were tested by means of a meta-analysis of k = 60 studies, using Weighted Least Squares estimation. Our results supported both hypotheses for the outcomes trust and organizational commitment. However, for job satisfaction the moderating influence of age was in the unexpected direction. The relations between contract breach and trust and organizational commitment were indeed stronger for younger workers, whereas the relation between contract breach and job satisfaction was stronger for older workers. The implications are discussed, and a research agenda is presented.