Contextualizing psychological contracts research: a multi-sample study of shared individual psychological contract fulfilment

ABSTRACT

Research on psychological contracts has made significant contributions to theoretically advancing our understanding of the employee-employer exchange relationship and its implications for organizational practice. However, the predominant emphasis of this empirical research has been on the individual level of analysis and in the process does not give sufficient attention to contextual influences. Teams have become a common feature in organizations today and provide a proximal context through which to understand how teams affect individuals’ evaluation of their psychological contract. Based on the macrosociological perspective of social exchange theory as well as theories on the role of social influence in psychological contract evaluations, we examine how shared individual psychological contract fulfilment (PCF) shapes the relationship between individual PCF and outcomes (employee’s own contributions and contextual performance) at the individual level as well as the predictors (group POS) and consequences (average employee contributions and average contextual performance) of shared individual PCF at the team level. Our findings from three studies, representing a total sample of 995 employees and 170 teams, provide support for the study hypotheses. This paper contributes to the psychological contract literature by conceptually and empirically addressing the role of a team context (shared individual PCF) and its impact on individual- and team-level relationships.     

Duties When an Anonymous Student Health Survey Finds a Hot Spot of Suicidality

Abstract

Public health agencies regularly survey randomly selected anonymous students to track drug use, sexual activities, and other risk behaviors. Students are unidentifiable, but a recent project that included school-level analysis discovered a school with alarmingly prevalent student suicidality. Given confidentiality protocols typical of surveillance, the surveyors were uncertain whether and how to intervene. We searched literature for duties to warn at-risk groups discovered during public health surveillance, but we found no directly applicable guidance or cases. Reasoning by analogy, we conclude that surveyors should contact the school’s leaders to call attention to its outlier status, but public warning is unwarranted. However, such an ad hoc decision to issue a warning, even if only to school leaders, raises significant practical, legal and ethical issues. National public health and education associations should produce guidance that clarifies ethical and legal duties owed to schools and students involved in population health-risk surveillance.     

Log Data Analysis with ANFIS: A Fuzzy Neural Network Approach

This study explores the use of the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), a neuro-fuzzy approach, to analyze the log data of technology-based assessments to extract relevant features of student problem-solving processes, and develop and refine a set of fuzzy logic rules that could be used to interpret student performance. The log data that record student response processes while solving a science simulation task were analyzed with ANFIS. Results indicate the ANFIS analysis could generate and refine a set of fuzzy rules that shed lights on the process of how students solve the simulation task. We conclude the article by discussing the advantages of combining human judgments with the learning capacity of ANFIS for log data analysis and outlining the limitations of the current study and areas of future research.     

Work Satisfaction as a Function of Gender and Job Status

Male lawyers, female lawyers, and female legal secretaries were interviewed concerning their work satisfaction, the nature of their employment-related gratifications and deprivations, and their work values. The data showed that the three samples' responses concerning work-related gratifications, deprivations, and values were largely similar. When they differed, the splits tended to be along the lines of job status (lawyer vs. secretary) rather than along the lines of gender (male vs. female). In addition, lawyers tended to be more satisfied with their work than were secretaries.     

Strengthening Couples from a Single-Parent Household Using Relational Cultural Therapy

ABSTRACT

Individuals initially learn about intimate relationships from observing others, such as their parents or caregivers’ relationship, which may positively or negatively affect their own romantic relationship. This article focuses on the application of Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT) concepts to establish resilience among couples with at least one partner from a single-parent household. Some individuals from single-parent households may not have witnessed romantic relationships to confidently engage in adult romantic relationships. Additionally, clinicians may not consider family background as a source of contention for a couple’s presenting concerns. Thus, this article provides creative interventions and implications to assist counselors in working with couples.