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.

How transformational leadership, psychological contract violation, empowerment and affective commitment influence employee’s intention to quit an organisation

Purpose: The first aim of this article is to assess the influence of transformational leadership and some selected psychological constructs on employee’s intention to quit an organisation. The second aim is to develop and validate a conceptual model that depicts the linear relationships amongst the constructs of this study (i.e. transformational leadership, psychological contract violation, psychological empowerment, affective commitment and intention to quit).Design/methodology/approach: The article employs correlational research method using quantitative research strategy. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was adopted in analysing data collected from 232 conveniently sampled respondents from various organisations in South Africa. The partial least square based SEM methodology was used to test the relationships amongst the various constructs of the study.Findings/results: Transformational leadership showed indirect influence on intention to quit through psychological contract violation, psychological empowerment and affective organisational commitment.Practical implications: The conceptual model of this study provides a useful psychological framework that guide organisations in the formulation and implementation of retention policies and practices. Further, it is imperative for organisations to encourage the adoption of transformational leadership at all levels of management. This is in consideration of the significant influences that this leadership behaviour exerts on individual employee’s intention to quit an organisation.Originality/value: An extensive search of instant literature did not produce evidence of an existing literature regarding the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological contract violation as we found in this article. This is a theoretical contribution to the field of organisation psychology. Furthermore, the article developed a unique and a empirically validated model that explained the direction and strength of relationships amongst selected antecedents of intention to quit. This practical contribution provides managers with both pragmatic insights and theoretical framework in formulating an effective retention strategy for their organisations.

EXPRESS: When the past is strongly involved in the present: Examining the transference effects of past psychological contract violation on present deviance

This study examines the role of psychological contract violation at a previous organization in explaining employees’ deviant behaviors in a new organization. Drawing on the social-cognitive model of transference, we hypothesize that past psychological contract violation is associated with employees’ present psychological ownership and job insecurity. These adverse transference effects can be buffered by institutionalized socialization tactics in the new organization. Furthermore, we hypothesize that past psychological contract violation is associated with employees’ present deviant behaviors through psychological ownership and job insecurity in the new organization. These indirect effects are weaker when the new organization uses more (vs. less) institutionalized socialization tactics. The results across two field studies provide consistent and robust support for our hypothesized model. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings on the transference effects of psychological contract violation and how to attenuate these harmful effects.

How Does Environmental Interpretation Affect Psychological Well-Being? A Study Conducted in the Context of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has challenged and generated severe impact on the global society, economy, and environment. Under this pandemic context, governments and organizations around the world have issued and strengthened environmental policies and regulations to protect the environment and human health. However, the extant knowledge about how people’s interpretation of environmental policies and regulations influence their psychological well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is still limited. This study, therefore, investigates the impact of environmental interpretation on psychological well-being with the mediating role of environmentally responsible behavior and the moderating role of psychological contract violation. Using the data from a large sample of 960 residents in China, results of structural equation modeling show a positive relationship between environmental interpretation and psychological well-being, and this relationship is mediated by environmentally responsible behavior. Notably, psychological contract violation has a moderating effect on the indirect effect of environmental interpretation on psychological well-being via environmentally responsible behavior. These findings have several important implications for policymakers in environmental sustainability and pandemic planning.

The Effect of Abusive Supervision on Organizational Identification: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study investigated the effect of abusive supervision on employee organizational identification by analyzing the mediating effect of psychological contract violation. In addition, it explored the moderating role of favoritism in the direct association of abusive supervision and organizational identification and the indirect effect through psychological contract violation. A total of 488 seasonal, immigrant, and part-time employees from family-run hotel organizations were surveyed during the data collection process. By utilizing Hayes’s macro, we found that abusive supervision and psychological contract violation had a significant negative effect on organizational identification. In addition, the results showed that psychological contract violation mediated the effect of abusive supervision on organizational identification and favoritism moderated the effect of abusive supervision on psychological contract violation. The findings highlight the detrimental effects of favoritism and abusive supervision on employee outcomes in the hospitality industry.

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.