Effects of Interpersonal Goals on Inadvertent Intrapersonal Influence in Computer‐Mediated Communication

This research explores a sequence of effects pertaining to the influence of relational goals on online information seeking, the use of information and arguments as relational management strategies in computer‐mediated chat, and the intrapersonal attitude change resulting from these processes. Affinity versus disaffinity goals affected participants' information seeking for communicatory utility ( Atkin, 1972 ), their conversational behaviors, and their own attitudes toward the topic and partner. People with negative relational goals used the Web to seek information for discussions more than affinity‐goal participants. Individuals expressed affinity‐disaffinity through arguments, agreements, and disagreements with partners' preferences, which led to changes in their own attitudes. Findings suggest renewed consideration of the interplay between mass media and interpersonal sources accessible on the Internet.     

The influence of social interaction on the dynamics of employees’ psychological contracting in digitally transforming organizations

ABSTRACT

This paper takes a process perspective in exploring the influence of social interaction on the dynamics of psychological contracting throughout organizational change. Although social interaction is a key focus in social exchange theory, this aspect is largely overlooked in the current psychological contract literature. In this qualitative study, we adopt a retrospective design, asking change recipients to recollect events over time in the context of digital transformation in Dutch travel organizations. Our data reveal a sequence of different kinds of social interactions over the course of a change process, from collective-focused interactions (i.e., kindness and sharing) in stable contracts to transactional interactions (i.e., “what is in it for me”) following psychological contract disruption, to relational interactions (i.e., vigilance about equity in social exchange) in psychological contract repair, and to a final return to resonance and alignment with others and a return to psychological contract maintenance. Our results suggest that social interactions play a more potent role in the dynamics of psychological contracting than is currently recognized in the literature. Finally, we discuss a number of implications for dynamic models of psychological contracting.