HOW DETRIMENTAL IS PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH TO AIRLINES?

This study aims at understanding airline industry’s organizational changes conceptualized as psychological contract breach (PCB) among flight attendants, leading to dissatisfaction reflected in this study as counterproductive work behavior (CWB). PCB refers to organization’s inability in fulfilling obligations contained within the psychological contract, while CWB is defined as conducts that are harmful to organization. With 410 respondents, using Structural Equation Model (SEM), the results had shown that CWB increases as the PCB is heightened. This study adds value to the literature in three ways: PCB being tested among flight attendants; CWB being conceptualized using Hirschman’s Model of EVLN with an extension of acquiescent silence; and the application of Affective Events Theory (AET) in supporting the linkage between PCB and CWB in airline context.

Exit, voice, loyalty: The case of the BDS

The essay proposes an unexpected alliance between two of the figures assembled in the impressive intellectual constellation Benhabib presents in her new book: Albert O. Hirschman and Judith Butler. Hirschman’s model of ‘exit, voice, loyalty’ is used to interpret and justify the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Hirschman meets Williamson: Relationship-specific investment and loyalty

In Albert Hirschman’s theory, loyalty plays a key role in the equilibrium between exit and voice. This article extends economic (rational choice) analysis to the emergence of loyalty, which Hirschman considers an exogenous factor. This is accomplished by linking Williamson’s theory of specific investment to Hirschman’s model. Three cases are distinguished: (1) loyalty is due to specific investment; (2) loyalty is due to (intermediate) factors influenced by specific investment; and, (3) loyalty is independent of specific investment. A simple model formalizes the first case. A paradoxical dynamic of loyalty is identified: a lower degree of specificity may lead to a weakening of loyalty in the short run but astrengthening of loyalty in the long run. An application to the process of European integration is sketched.