Similar or different? When Cross-Strait employees face psychological contract violations

Purpose Though there are still political turbulences, the economic cooperation between mainland China and Taiwan is inseparable. Cooperation between enterprises on both sides has become more frequent. Studying the similarities and differences between employees in Cross-Strait enterprises can contribute to human resource management. This paper aims to study the cultural difference between employees of mainland China and in Taiwan when facing psychological contract violations. Design/methodology/approach A total of 811 valid sample questionnaires were taken from Cross-Strait private enterprise employees. This research adopted partial least squares-structural equation model statistical analysis as an empirical research evaluation. Findings This study finds that psychological contract violation has a significant positive impact on turnover intention and a significant negative impact on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the Chinese context. There exist cultural differences between the employees of mainland China and Taiwan. When facing psychological contract violation, it is found that employees from Taiwan are more likely to have a strong turnover intention but still keep higher job performance. Employees from mainland China are found to be more likely to have higher OCB. Originality/value The originality of this research lies in establishing a stronger theoretical model to understand employee behavior. This paper verifies the validity of this model under the Chinese context. Moreover, this paper verifies the cultural difference between Cross-Strait employees.

Constructing and Validating Students’ Psychological Contract Violation Scale

For two and a half decades, psychological contracts are researched mainly in work organisations as drivers of the attitudes and behaviours of employees, overlooking the importance of understanding the nature of the psychological contracts of students in higher education. This study constructs and validates a new scale for measuring the perceived psychological contract violations of students in the context of faculty incivility. A mixed-method approach was applied to study the issue in three phases. First, a qualitative method was used to capture and analyse the perceived entitlements of students, as described by 78 college students, resulting in 37 items or elements identified by students as reflecting their psychological contracts. Second, a sample of 244 students was studied to identify the perceptions of violated expectations of students. In the final phase, items were rephrased as expectations and were given to the third sample of 154 undergraduate college students to determine the level of fulfilment of these expectations. Additionally, to ascertain discriminate and convergent validity measures, students were asked about the extent to which they experienced faculty incivility (discriminant validity) and frustration with the quality of interaction with their faculty (convergent validity). From these results, students’ psychological contract violation scale was constructed and validated.

What Happens to Others Matters! An Intraindividual Processual Approach to Coworkers’ Psychological Contract Violations

Drawing on recent research highlighting the dynamic and social properties of psychological contracts, we propose a framework that examines socially embedded triggers and their impact on psychological contract change. Our model accounts for the social context in which individuals’ sensemaking process about their employment relationship occurs. The model specifies how individuals make sense of coworkers’ psychological contract violation and integrate that information into the creation of a plausible convergent or divergent account. These accounts have the potential to reinforce or initiate a review of the terms of the individual’s psychological contract schema, or they may leave the schema intact. Research and practical implications of this conceptual framework are discussed.

But they promised! How psychological contracts influence the impact of felt violations on job-related anxiety and performance

PurposeThis study unpacks the relationship between violations of organizational promises, as perceived by employees and their job performance, considering the mediating effects of job-related anxiety and moderating effects of psychological contract type.Design/methodology/approachMulti-source, multi-wave data were collected from employees and their supervisors in Pakistan.FindingsFeelings of organizational betrayal may reduce job performance due to the higher anxiety that employees experience in their daily work. This mediating role of enhanced job-related anxiety in turn is stronger to the extent that employees believe that their psychological contract contains relational obligations but weaker when it contains transactional obligations.Practical implicationsThe study gives organizational decision makers pertinent insights into how they can mitigate the risk that employees who are angry about broken organizational promises stay away from performance-enhancing work activities, namely, by managing the expectations that come along with psychological contracts. In so doing, they can avoid imposing dual harms on employees, from both a sense that they have been betrayed and the risk of lower performance ratings.Originality/valueThis study offers expanded insights into the process that underpins the translation of psychological contract violations into diminished job performance, by pinpointing the simultaneous roles of experienced job-related anxiety and beliefs about employer obligations.

Employee Deviance as By-product of Psychological Contract: The Moderating Effects of Power Distance among Employees in Insurance Companies in Nigeria

Employees have expectations from their organizations; whether they are written, contractual, or not, these expectations have an equally employee outcome such as employee deviance. Indices indicate that employee deviance is on the increase especially in the organized private sector; thus, this study evaluated employee deviance as by-product of psychological contract and power distance among a sample of employees (289) from insurance organizations in Nigeria with an average age of 34.50 years and standard deviation of 3.50. The study sought to ascertain the relationship between psychological contract and employee deviance and whether perceptions of power distance moderated this relationship. Psychological contract inventory (PCI), Power distance scale adapted from CVSCALE Five-dimensional scale of individual cultural values and Workplace deviant behaviour scale were utilized for data collection. The result of data analysis indicated that the adjusted R2 for step 1 is .24 at F(42.06) p < .01. In the second model, the adjusted R2 is .26 and R change is .002. This R change was significant at F (33.76), df = 285 p < .01. The Beta coefficient for model 2 shows that psychological contract significantly and negatively predicted employee deviant behaviours at Beta value, thus, the first hypothesis was confirmed at β = -.68, p < .01. Similarly, power distance significantly and positively predicted employee deviant behaviour at β coefficient value of .34, p < .01, thus, the second hypothesis was also confirmed. Also, the third hypothesis where power distance moderated the relationship between psychological contract and employee deviant behaviour was confirmed at β =.27, p < .01. The study concludes that organizations whose interests do not account for the expectations of their employees are at risk of higher levels of employees’ deviance either as byproduct of psychological contract violations or as a retaliatory behaviour.

Walking the talk

Purpose Based on exchange theory and the generalized norm of reciprocity, psychological contracts perceived by employees are believed to have dysfunctional consequences for organizations if breached. This paper aims to study the willingness of employees to report fraud, as such is an important aspect of internal control for organizations. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment was conducted in which 99 participants with diverse accounting backgrounds were first asked questions about their preconceived beliefs (psychological contract) regarding how reports of unethical conduct would be managed, and their reaction if these beliefs were broken (psychological contract violation). Participants were given a hypothetical situation of fraud and then asked to indicate their likelihood of reporting fraud to a supervisor. Findings The main hypotheses are that employees will be less likely to report fraud when the organization fails to signal the presence of a positive ethical environment or when management reacts weakly to previous reports of unethical activity. The data and findings support these hypotheses. Additional testing also reveals that a psychological contract violation mediates the relationship between the outcome of previous reports and the intention to report fraud. Research limitations/implications As with any experimental study, this study’s results come with limitations. Reading an overly simplistic scenario that omits real world details and providing intention to report is very different from actually reporting fraud in one’s own place of employment. Therefore, reporting intentions may vary from actual reporting behavior. Further, reporting motivation (self-defense, altruism, etc.) and concern over retaliation are not measured. Practical implications Employees have expectations surrounding ethical corporate environments. Psychological contract violations occur as a result of broken expectations and are common in the workforce. In this study, a breakdown in the internal control environment because of a poor ethical culture, caused an even greater breakdown in internal controls because of employees’ decreased reporting intentions. Social implications Psychological contract violations impact employees’ intention to report fraud. These violations need to be understood so that additional measures and safeguards can be instituted when employees are not acting as a fraud defense or detection mechanism. During such times when there is a breakdown in this type of internal control (that is, when employees might be hesitant to report fraud), extra safeguards against fraud, additional procedures to detect fraud, and enhanced employee training encouraging reporting of suspected unethical conduct, become even more important. Originality/value Strong experimental methods provide a rigorous way to evaluate a problem of our day: job insecurity caused by rampant organizational turbulence. The hidden cost is expressed in terms of how less can be expected of employees as a first line of defense against fraud.