Understanding the changing nature of psychological contracts in 21st century organizations

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos-Maria Alcover ◽  
Ramón Rico ◽  
William H. Turnley ◽  
Mark C. Bolino
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Psychological Contracts ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Organizational Life ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Justice Perceptions

In recent years, scholars have increasingly recognized that the theoretical underpinnings of employee-organization relationships (EOR) are in need of further extension in light of recent organizational changes. In prior research, the study of EOR has been based on social exchange theory, and the psychological contract (PC) has played a central role in understanding this crucial aspect of organizational life. The main objective of this paper is to provide an integration of the existing literature by adopting a multiple-foci exchange relationships approach. Specifically, we looked at identification; the quality of relationships and exchanges with the leader, coworkers, and other organizational agents; justice perceptions involving several organizational sources; and perceived organizational, leader, and coworker support to expand our understanding of the PC. Overall, we advocate a multiple-foci exchange relationships approach that will ultimately enable us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of PCs in 21st century organizations.

Linking justice perceptions, workplace relationship quality and job performance: The differential roles of vertical and horizontal workplace relationships

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela I Gerlach
Keyword(s):  
Job Performance ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Workplace Relationships ◽  
Interpersonal Justice ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Justice Perceptions ◽  
Coworker Relationships

Due to decentralization, flat organizational structures and prevalence of team work, employees interact more frequently and intensively within horizontal relationships with coworkers than within vertical relationships with supervisors. The present study contributes to a more complete understanding of antecedents and outcomes of local, interpersonal workplace relationships by simultaneously investigating employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships. Drawing on organizational justice theory and social exchange theory as well as data collected from 571 employees at two points in time, this study explores how justice perceptions affect social exchange relationships with supervisors and coworkers, and identifies mechanisms through which these, in turn, enhance employee job performance. Results suggest that informational and interpersonal justice differentially affect the quality of employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships, underlining the relevance of considering both supervisors and coworkers as sources of justice. Moreover, the findings indicate that employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships contribute to job performance, but through distinct paths. Job satisfaction mediates the link between both social exchange relationships and job performance, while quality of employee–coworker relationships further enhances job performance through employees’ motivation to engage in learning and knowledge sharing.

scholarly journals Research on the Relationship Between High-Commitment Work Systems and Employees’ Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior: The Moderating Role of Balanced Reciprocity Beliefs

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhang ◽  
Lijing Zhao ◽  
Zhihong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Psychological Contracts ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Human Resource Managers ◽  
Work Systems ◽  
Mediating Role

Based on the social exchange theory, this paper explores the indirect impact of high-commitment work systems on employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior. Through the analysis of multisource data from 139 companies (including 139 human resource managers and 966 employees), a multilevel structuring equation model is used to verify the study’s hypotheses. The research results show the following findings: (1) High-commitment work systems are significantly positively related to employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior. (2) High-commitment work systems have indirect effects on the employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior through the relational psychological contract. The relational psychological contract plays a mediating role in this process. (3) Employees’ balanced reciprocity beliefs significantly enhance the positive effect of relational psychological contracts on employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior. It can also positively moderate the mediating effect of high-commitment work systems that affect employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior via relational psychological contract.

Effects of Resource Availability on Social Exchange Relationships: The Case of Employee Psychological Contract Obligations

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1447-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Bordia ◽  
Simon Lloyd D. Restubog ◽  
Sarbari Bordia ◽  
Robert L. Tang
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Family Work ◽  
Work Conflict ◽  
The Social

Applications of social exchange theory in organizational research have tended to ignore the resource context and its impact on a focal dyadic social exchange. Integrating insights from the social exchange theory and the conservation of resources theory, we examine the role of resource availability in the social exchange of resources. The type of social exchange we focus on is the psychological contract. Specifically, we examine the antecedents and consequence of breach of employee obligations to an employer. We test our predictions using multisource data obtained from employees over three measurement periods in Sample 1 and matched triads (employee, supervisor, and coworker) in Sample 2. We found that family–work conflict (FWC) and breach of employer obligations are positively, while conscientiousness is negatively, related to employees’ perceptions of breach of their obligations. Conscientiousness moderated the FWC–breach relationship: Employees low on conscientiousness have a stronger positive relationship between FWC and breach of employee obligations. Breach of employee obligations is, in turn, negatively related to employee career progression (a job promotion over the following year in Sample 1 and supervisor-rated promotability in Sample 2). Findings highlight the interconnected nature of demands, resources, and obligations and that dyadic social exchange obligations should be examined in the context of other demands.

Self-Estrangement’s Toll on Job Performance: The Pivotal Role of Social Exchange Relationships With Coworkers

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 1573-1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy D. Golden ◽  
John F. Veiga
Keyword(s):  
Job Performance ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Behavioral Outcomes ◽  
Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Professional Employees ◽  
Insight Into

Perhaps because self-estrangement is inherently dysfunctional, empirical research has primarily sought to understand its antecedents but not its consequences. As a result, despite its ubiquity in the workplace, self-estrangement’s insidious effects are not well understood. In this paper, because coworkers frequently bear the brunt of interactions with self-estranged workers, we sought to understand how the behavior of self-estranged workers corrodes their social exchange relationships with coworkers. In particular, we focus on how increasing self-estrangement, through its dysfunctional influence on the quality of social exchange relationships with coworkers, can exact a toll on estranged workers’ job performance. To provide greater insight into their relationships, we extend social exchange theory by specifying three behavioral outcomes that underlie the quality of ongoing, reciprocal exchanges, including the level of trustworthiness, accessibility, and peer citizenship behavior. To test our model, we gathered matching survey data in a large corporation from three sources, including 346 professional employees, a knowledgeable coworker, and their supervisor. Results show that self-estrangement indirectly impacts job performance and damages relationships with coworkers by reducing the estranged workers’ level of trustworthiness, accessibility, and peer citizen behavior. We also found that each of these behavioral outcomes served as a significant intervening mechanism separately, as well as when they were combined as a set, suggesting that coworker social exchange quality should be viewed as multidimensional.

Team Networks and Team Identification: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
KeXin Guan ◽  
ZhengXue Luo ◽  
JiaXi Peng ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
HaiTing Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Leader Member Exchange ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Relationship

We examined the relationship among team networks, leader-member exchange (LMX), and team identification in the workplace. Social network theory, social exchange theory, and social identity theory served as references for our theoretical propositions and analyses. We collected data from a sample of 223 teams of military personnel, serving in the artillery in West China. We found that the team networks had a significant effect on team identification. Further, the variance and the mean for LMX in teams interacted in influencing team identification (β =-.893, p < .01). Our findings indicated that creating productive networks in teams would be useful to enhance team identification, the effect of which may be carried on through to building exchange relationships between leader and follower.

The Indirect Effect of Justice Perceptions on Job Satisfaction Among Hispanic Employees

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Heron ◽  
Robert Coseano ◽  
Valentina Bruk-Lee
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Justice Perceptions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Overall Job Satisfaction ◽  
The U.S

The notion that justice perceptions greatly influence behaviors and attitudes at work has been supported in the organizational behavior literature. Given the significant increase of Hispanic employees in the U.S. workforce in the last two decades, more research is needed to understand how justice relates to important outcomes in this population. The present study uses social exchange theory to examine conflict as a mediator of the relationship between justice and overall job satisfaction, and three individual facets of job satisfaction in a sample of 154 working Hispanic young adults in a variety of jobs. Findings indicate that conflict mediates the relationship between each dimension of justice and overall job satisfaction, and between two out of three examined facets of job satisfaction. The results provide evidence for the importance of justice perceptions in determining the attitudes and behaviors of Hispanic employees in the workplace.

scholarly journals Emerging, crystalizing, and changing psychological contracts over time: Introducing the iPC-network model

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Vantilborgh
Keyword(s):  
Network Model ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Dynamic Network ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Psychological Contracts ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Contract Breach ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Over Time

This chapter introduces the individual Psychological Contract (iPC) network model as an alternative approach to study psychological contracts. This model departs from the basic idea that a psychological contract forms a mental schema containing obligated inducements and contributions, which are exchanged for each other. This mental schema is captured by a dynamic network, in which the nodes represent the inducements and contributions and the ties represent the exchanges. Building on dynamic systems theory, I propose that these networks evolve over time towards attractor states, both at the level of the network structure and at the level of the nodes (i.e., breach and fulfilment attractor states). I highlight how the iPC-network model integrates recent theoretical developments in the psychological contract literature and explain how it may advance scholars understanding of exchange relationships. In particular, I illustrate how iPC-network models allow researchers to study the actual exchanges in the psychological contract over time, while acknowledging its idiosyncratic nature. This would allow for more precise predictions of psychological contract breach and fulfilment consequences and explains how content and process of the psychological contract continuously influence each other.

Talent or Not

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Christina Meyers ◽  
Nicky Dries ◽  
Giverny De Boeck
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Performance Standards ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Work Effort ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
High Work

It is assumed that employees display favorable attitudes (e.g., high organizational commitment) and behaviors (e.g., high work effort) when identified as organizational talent. If they did not, the idea that talent management creates value by making disproportionate investments into organizational talent would need to be reconsidered. We reviewed the literature to explore whether the assumed favorable reactions among talent are valid and the results are not straightforward. Many studies found evidence for the assumption; however, several studies revealed that talent designation bears considerable risks: Being identified as talent creates (overly optimistic) expectations of receiving rewards and benefits from the organization and it increases the felt pressure to meet high performance standards. We discuss the findings in the light of social exchange theory, psychological contract theory, and others commonly used in talent-management research, highlighting key issues regarding talent designation and identifying avenues for future research.

Am I treated better than my co-worker? A moderated mediation analysis of psychological contract fulfillment, organizational identification, and voice

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1133-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghulam Ali Arain ◽  
Sehrish Bukhari ◽  
Imran Hameed ◽  
Delphine M. Lacaze ◽  
Zahara Bukhari
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Organizational Identification ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Psychological Contract Fulfillment ◽  
Group Value Model ◽  
Value Model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and conditional indirect effects of employees’ perception of psychological contract fulfillment on their positive voice, i.e., promotive voice and prohibitive voice, through the integrated framework of the social exchange theory and the group value model. Design/methodology/approach Using a two-source data collection from the employee and supervisor, cross-sectional data were collected from 234 participants working in one of the leading non-profit organizations in Pakistan. After initial data screening, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test for the factorial validity of the employed measures with AMOS. The hypothesized relationships were tested in regression analysis with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Findings The results of this study supported the integration of the social exchange theory with the group value model in explaining the direct and indirect positive effects of employees’ perception of psychological contract fulfillment on their promotive and prohibitive voices through the mediation of organizational identification (OID). Furthermore, it was also recorded that the indirect effect was conditional on the employees’ perception of the relative psychological contract fulfillment which significantly moderated the direct relationship between psychological contract fulfillment and OID. However, no such effect was recorded for the moderating effect of power distance orientation between OID and the both voices. Originality/value In addressing the recently published research calls, this study broadens the horizon of existing research on psychological contract and employee positive voice by investigating the mediating and the moderating factors that influence this relationship.

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