Challenges to the psychological contract in Hong Kong

This study investigates empirically the psychological contract of a sample of 205 Hong Kong junior and senior managers. It determines the perceptions of factors that employers and employees see as relevant to the employment relationship, and then analyses perceptions of and attitudes towards recent changes in the Hong Kong business environment. In addition to exploring the nature and content of manager's psychological contracts in Hong Kong, the study explores how contracts are related to and affected by both the external environment and internal management practices. A survey questionnaire is used to measure the promises and commitments perceived to have been made by organizations, and the obligations that employees perceive they owe to their employer. In addition, the actual policies and practices of the employing organizations are determined. The impact of the HRM climate of the employing organizations (actual policies and practices) and the attitudes, expectations and feelings of organizational members about ongoing changes in the business and management environment on this exchange relationship are isolated. The study makes two contributions to the psychological contract literature: it examines the relevance of a psychological contract approach in a nonWestern geographical region; and it moves the concept of HRM preferences more centrally into the psychological contracting literature. This enables a better understanding of the construct in relation to the comparative management literature. The content of the psychological contract is shown to be multi-dimensional. Perceptions of organizational commitments and promises focus around four judgements: an intrinsically satisfying and challenging environment; a secure and rewarding job; equity; and supportive leadership. By Western standards the employee side of the employment relationship 'deal' is more one-sided. The proportion of managers who believe employees are strongly obligated to do certain things for their employers is very high. The study examines the factors that predict employees' psychological contracts. Actual HRM practices are shown to predict perceived commitments and obligations, and the strength of obligation is related to perceived promises and commitments. In contrast to the emphasis on the internal cognitive and individualized conception of the psychological contract in much of the literature, this study indicates that this decontextualizes psychological contracts. The true nature of a psychological contract is shown to be an exchange relationship firmly linked to a culture's reciprocity norms.     

Middle Managers and the Employee Psychological Contract: Agency,Protection and Advancement

This paper investigates the construction and enactment of the employee psychological contract by a sample of middle-level line and personnel managers responsible for introducing job change in the air traffic control sector. We show how middle managers' concerns with fulfilling their own contractual commitments to senior management are perceived to conflict with meeting obligations to subordinates under the employment agreement. Thus, we illustrate our main argument that middle managers who are exposed to more exacting performance demands and controls do not simply subordinate employee concerns to their own interests. They seek to disguise the presence and outcomes of employee disaffection and to manipulate the impressions of senior management. We conclude that far from increasing individual accountability at middle levels such stringent controls may yield interpersonal rivalry, lower standards of employee treatment and the subversion of corporate aims.     

Organization‐Based Self‐Esteem,Psychological Contract Fulfillment,and Perceived Employment Opportunities: A Test of Self‐Regulatory Theory

This study addresses organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE) development by examining the role of perceptions of employer psychological contract fulfillment, and the self‐regulatory processes by which OBSE evolves and produces its effects. Self‐regulatory theory helps reveal why psychological contract fulfillment relates to OBSE, how OBSE mediates its effects, and the ways in which OBSE might interact with perceived employment opportunities to affect job satisfaction, performance, and turnover intentions. The results show that OBSE is related to and mediates the relationships between relational contract fulfillment and employee job satisfaction and performance, but OBSE is not related to transactional contract fulfillment. Nor does OBSE mediate the relationships between transactional contract fulfillment and the dependent variables. Perceived employment opportunities moderate the relationships of OBSE with job satisfaction and turnover intentions. This study concludes with recommendations of ways managers can increase their sensitivity to the types of messages they communicate to employees. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Theorising determinants of employee voice: an integrative model across disciplines and levels of analysis

This article critiques organisational behaviour (OB) research on employee voice and presents a broader‐based conceptual model that integrates ideas and concepts across employment relationship disciplines and levels of analysis. OB studies err by taking an overly individualistic, psychological, managerialist and de‐institutionalised perspective on employee voice. This criticism is documented and illustrated with numerous examples from the OB literature. To provide a constructive step forward, the article presents an enlarged model of employee voice that not only includes OB but also brings in important contributions from the HRM, industrial relations, labour economics and labour process fields. The model provides an integrative framework for theoretical and empirical studies of voice and yields a number of research and practice implications.     

Consequences Of The Psychological Contract For The Employment Relationship: A Large Scale Survey*

The renewed interest in the concept of the psychological contract has come to the fore in attempts to describe, understand and predict the consequences of changes occurring in the employment relationship. Recognizing that the employment relationship includes two parties to the exchange process, we set out to examine the content and state of the psychological contract from both the employee and employer perspective. The two perspectives permit an examination of the mutuality of obligations, which has not received much empirical attention to date. The research methodology consists of two surveys conducted in a large local authority directly responsible and accountable for a range of public services including education, environmental health and social care to the local population. The key findings suggest that the majority of employees have experienced contract breach. This view is also supported by managers, as representatives of the employer, who further indicate that the organization, given its external pressures, is not fulfilling its obligations to employees to the extent that it could. Overall, the results indicate that employees are redressing the balance in the relationship through reducing their commitment and their willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviour when they perceive their employer as not having fulfilled its part in the exchange process.     

Balancing psychological contracts: Validation of a typology

In this study, a psychological contract typology based on both content and exchange balance was developed. Content was defined along the transactional-relational dimension. Balance was assessed by comparing employees' perceptions on the number of employees' obligations relative to employer's obligations. Furthermore, the typology was related to type of employment contract (temporary versus permanent) as perhaps the most important antecedent of psychological contracts, and to various psychological consequences (job satisfaction, life satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological contract violation). Results were based on Belgian and German data (N = 1267). Latent Class Analyses suggested four psychological contract types which are clearly distinct with regard to content terms and exchange balance: mutual high obligations, employee over-obligation, employee under-obligation and mutual low obligations. Temporary workers were more likely to hold psychological contracts with few employer obligations, such as the mutual low obligations and the employee over-obligation type. Finally, the mutual high obligations type was most beneficial in terms of psychological outcomes. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Human resource management practices and psychological contracts in Swiss firms: an employer perspective

This article investigates the relationship between HRM practices and organisational performance, considering the fulfilment of the psychological contract as an intermediate variable. Apart from testing the influences of a high-investment HRM system index on the psychological contract, the influence of individual HRM practices and their interaction was examined. The sample consisted of HR managers of 92 firms in Switzerland and the data were collected for the Cranfield Network project. The results showed that the high-investment HRM system index predicted the fulfilment of the psychological contract, and some of the individual HRM practices were correlated with the fulfilment of the psychological contract. The interaction effect of performance appraisal and performance-based pay on the fulfilment of the psychological contract showed that performance appraisal is only effective in combination with a tangible consequence in the form of performance-based pay. We neither found a mediation effect for the psychological contract nor an association with organisational performance. This might be due to the fact that the questionnaire was filled in during the financial crisis in 2008 and that the organisational performance was assessed in an economic crisis. Our study sheds light on the relationship between HRM practices and the psychological contract and contributes to the body of research on psychological contracts from a macro level perspective.     

The impact of corporate entrepreneurship and high-performance work systems on employees' job attitudes: empirical evidence from Greece during the economic downturn

In turbulent times, corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and high-performance work systems (HPWSs) are expected to expand and flourish. However, research on the influences of both CE and HPWSs on employees' job attitudes has generally been neglected. The aim of this study is twofold. First is to investigate the effects of CE and HPWSs on facets of job satisfaction and the three components of organisational commitment. Second is, consistent with the social exchange theory, to examine whether psychological contract act as an important mediator for the CE, HPWSs and employees' job attitudes relationships. Empirical evidence was obtained from 424 employees in the Greek manufacturing industry. Results indicate that both CE and HPWSs positively impact employees' level of job satisfaction and organisational commitment. In addition, we find evidence that psychological contract theory provides a coherent theoretical framework for understanding these relationships. Theoretical and practical implications for HR managers conclude the article.     

Employment security and employee organizational citizenship behavior: does an ‘iron rice bowl’ make a difference?

Empirical evidence linking employment security to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is equivocal. Limited research has considered the effect of employment status. Using data from 217 subordinate–supervisor dyads in a large state-owned enterprise in China as basis, our research found significant association between overall perceived employment security and employee OCB. However, this relationship may vary depending on employment status. Further analysis suggested a curvilinear relationship for permanent employees with an ‘iron rice bowl’ (lifetime employment) and a linear relationship for contractual employees without an ‘iron rice bowl’. Our study contributes to a thorough understanding of the relationship between employment security and positive behaviors in terms of OCB by integrating the literature on social exchange, psychological contract, and proactive behavior.     

Serving two organizations: Exploring the employment relationship of contracted employees

Although growth has occurred in contract employment arrangements both in the public and private sectors, scant research has been conducted on the organizations and employees affected by these arrangements.This study examines the employment relationship of long‐term contracted employees using a social exchange framework. Specifically, we examine the effects of employee perceptions of organizational support from contracting and client organizations on their (a) affective commitment to each organization and (b) service‐oriented citizenship behavior. We also examine whether felt obligation toward each organization mediates this relationship. Our sample consists of 99 long‐term contracted employees working for four contracting organizations that provide services to the public on behalf of a municipal government. Results indicate that the antecedents of affective commitment are similar for the client and contracting organization. Employee perceptions of client organizational supportiveness were positively related to felt obligation and commitment to the client organization. Client felt obligation mediated the effects of client perceived organizational support (POS) on the participation dimension of citizenship behavior. Our study provides additional support for the generalizability of social exchange processes to nontraditional employment relationships. Implications for managing long‐term contracted employees are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Front‐line managers as agents in the HRM‐performance causal chain: theory,analysis and evidence

Research on the link between HRM and organisational performance has neglected the role of front‐line managers, yet it is these managers who are increasingly charged with the implementation of many HR practices. Using an employee survey in 12 ‘excellent’ companies we explore the extent to which employee commitment towards their employer and their job are influenced by the quality of leadership behaviour and by satisfaction with HR practices. Both have a strong effect on employee attitudes. The article concludes with a case study of a planned effort to improve front‐line managers' skills in people management.     

Employee representation and partnership in the non‐union sector: a paradox of intention?

Non‐union forms of employee representation have become increasingly prominent in UK workplaces in the last 15 years. In addition, partnership working has been encouraged by New Labour, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Confederation of British Industry and the TUC as a route to higher commitment and higher individual and organisational performance. These trends have been further encouraged by recent European Union legislation. This article seeks to examine the implied linkages between non‐union employee representative mechanisms and partnership working and their influence on the effectiveness of employee voice as a conduit of high performance. The article is based on a case study organisation from within the UK finance sector, and data are drawn from semi‐structured interviews with managers and staff and a survey of employee attitudes. The article concludes that employers’ attempts to utilise a non‐union partnership framework for organisational gain are severely constrained by structural limitations on effective employee voice.     

企业营销高层人才招聘甄选策略失效研究——基于心理契约视角

心理契约的破裂能够解释企业营销高层人才招聘甄选策略失效的原因。在企业和员工解决了"能岗匹配"问题后,企业未能留住营销高层人才说明其招聘甄选策略存在失效,原因在于双方的"雇员接触点"管理工作出现了失效。交易型心理契约和关系型心理契约的破裂说明企业"雇员接触点"管理的失效;雇员未能"本组织化"和职业经理人精神的缺失说明员工"雇员接触点"管理的失效;在营销高层人才招聘甄选途径上,通过内部培养方式选聘的人才与企业心理契约的破裂风险小于外部引进的方式。     

Inducements,contributions, and fulfillment in new employee psychological contracts

This longitudinal study of newly hired Chinese college graduates (N = 143) investigates the effects of contract fulfillment, employee reports of company inducements (organizational support and job rewards), and supervisory reports of individual contributions (job performance and extra‐role citizenship behavior) upon changes in the graduates' psychological contracts. Three survey waves were administered a year apart, starting with the recruits' job offer acceptance. Analyses revealed that employee fulfillment and perceived contributions predicted particular changes in employer psychological contract obligations, whereas employer fulfillment and perceived inducements predicted changes in employee obligations. The effects of inducements on employee obligation changes and contributions on employer obligation changes were mediated by their respective fulfillment measures. Changes in obligations were greater in the first year of employment than in the second. This study yields implications for managing newcomers and researching the initial phase of employment. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ideological currency in psychological contracts: the role of team relationships in a reciprocity perspective

This study focused on the role of ideology in psychological contracts, which has been a neglected theme in psychological contract research. A study among Dutch middle managers in education revealed that ideological psychological contract fulfillment explained additional variance in relation to employee obligations toward the organization. Moreover, it was found that team relationships moderated the relations between some aspects of employer contract fulfillment and employee obligations, but no significant interactions were found between employer ideological fulfillment and team relationships in relation to employee obligations.     

Changes in psychological contracts during the global financial crisis: the manager's perspective

The employee–organisation relationship is dynamic and arguably affected by contextual factors, such as a change in the economic environment. This study uses data collected from managers in Australia before and after the beginning of the global financial crisis (GFC) to examine the changes in psychological contract (PC) terms from the manager's perspective. In particular, as industries can be affected differently by economic crisis and gender discrimination can increase in tough economic conditions, we examined if any changes in PC terms were contingent on industry and employee gender. The study's results show that the terms of the employment relationship deteriorated in Australia only for employees working in industries affected by the GFC. Further, we found that some gender differences in the terms of the PC exist independent of the state of the economy. In addition, a three-way interaction indicates that managers working in industries not affected by the GFC are allocating a greater proportion of their resources to their female employees than to their male employees. Ongoing labour shortages and gender inequities in Australia might have prompted managers in non-affected industries to use their relative ‘resource-rich’ advantage to positively influence the employee–organisation relationship for female employees, a traditionally disadvantaged group.     

The role of green innovation and hope in employee retention

Green innovation is increasingly receiving attention in organisational behaviour and strategic management literature. However, understanding employee's preferences for organisations that have adopted innovative environmental practices have received little attention. This study tests a framework that examines the relationship between employees' preferences for innovative green organisations, hope, and intentions to stay. Data were collected from 403 employees in Australia. Results show that employees' preferences for green innovation drive the emotional state of employee hope, which has a positive effect on employees' intentions to stay with the organisation. This study offers implications for academics and managers, advancing the literature on green innovation, recruitment, retention, and organisational behaviour.     

新经济环境下员工忠诚度管理——论心理契约构建的重要性

现代企业管理中,企业员工的忠诚度会影响企业经营目标的实现,而心理契约对员工的行为、忠诚度有着决定性的影响。本文主要探讨新经济环境下企业管理中员工的忠诚和"心理契约"的关系,并阐述了有效的心理契约管理如何提升员工的忠诚度,最后根据研究结果给出员工与企业如何共建"心理契约"的建议,为企业领导者及后续研究者提供参考。     

Human resource management's role in clarifying the new psychological contract

This article discusses the importance of understanding and managing the changing employee–employer relationship (psychological contract). It offers a brief discussion on changing employee–employer expectations and provides a definition and discussion on the importance of the psychological contract in managing employee–employer relationships. Several employee–employer interactions in which human resource management (HRM) personnel can help clarify and reshape the psychological contract are presented.     

Working below and above the line: the research–practice gap in diversity management

In HRM, a line can be drawn that distinguishes research on formal organisational programmes (above‐the‐line research) from research on organisational practices as they are experienced by employees (below‐the‐line research). Diversity management research has heavily emphasised below‐the‐line research using methodologies that measure employee perceptions of diversity management activities. This research demonstrates an impact of diversity management on employee reactions and identifies unit‐level factors (e.g. leader behaviour) that impact the effectiveness of diversity management activities. However, below‐the‐line research is not able to answer HR professionals' questions about which diversity management activities should be adopted when, and so a research–practice gap is developing. I explain how both academics and practitioners would benefit from more above‐the‐line research examining the impact of formal organisational diversity management activities as reported by senior managers or documented in organisational records.