An Empirical Assessment of Alternative Conceptualizations of the Psychological Contract Construct: Meaningful Differences or “Much to do about Nothing”?

The reported study helps move the literature beyond conceptual arguments that have been made and repeated in the literature by investigating the equivalence of three psychological contract (PC) measures that were based on alternative conceptualizations of the PC construct. Employees from a wide range of organizations (n = 1054) were randomly assigned to complete either an expectation, obligation, or promise based measure of their PCs. The equivalence of the PC measures was assessed by comparing factor structures across the three forms, and examining the observed pattern of correlations between the PC measures and external criteria (e.g., trust, equity sensitivity, work centrality, education level). The results indicate that while the three PC measures evoke the same general mental framework in the minds of respondents, and behave similarly for some purposes, depending on the specific relationships being investigated, the measures may yield significantly different results (i.e., they are not fully interchangeable). Implications for theorizing and future research regarding the PC construct are discussed. Also reported is new evidence linking individual differences (e.g., work centrality, equity sensitivity) to perceived responsibilities and rights in the employment relationship.     

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.     

“Good Cause Beliefs” in an “At-Will World”? A Focused Investigation of Psychological Versus Legal Contracts

This study assesses the psychological contracts of a group of at-will employees and compares their relevant psychological contract beliefs with the terms of the controlling legal employment contract. In addition, we test specific hypotheses regarding the relationship between employers formal job security policy (employment at-will vs. good cause protection, and employee personal characteristics; equity sensitivity, organizational tenure) to 2 focal psychological contract beliefs (the employers obligation to have a good reason to discharge the employee, and the employees reciprocal obligation to have a good reason to leave his/her employer). These issues are investigated using survey data sampled from 15 diverse U.S. organizations, and independently collected information regarding organizations job security policies. The results provide evidence of a widely shared psychological contract belief that, despite explicit at-will policies, U.S. employers are highly obligated to have a good reason to discharge employees. Further, personal characteristics are more strongly related to the focal psychological contract beliefs than employer job security policies. The theoretical contribution of the study and its practical implications are discussed.     

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.     

Psychological contracts and reciprocity: a study in a Finnish context

Existing research has demonstrated how the norm of reciprocity operates as a general principle in exchange relationships. However, limited explicit theoretical and empirical attention has been paid to its role in the functioning of the psychological contract. Using a sample of Finnish public sector employees, this study investigated the impact of perceived employer fulfilment of psychological contract on employee perceptions of the form of reciprocity underlying the exchange relationship. The potential mediating role of the reciprocity perceptions between perceived contract fulfilment and its outcomes (affective commitment, continuance commitment and intention to leave) was also examined. The results show that perceived employer fulfilment is positively associated with employee perceptions of the generalized form of reciprocity, and negatively with perceptions of the balanced form of reciprocity. Further, perceptions of generalized reciprocity were found to mediate the relationship between perceived contract fulfilment and affective commitment and intentions to leave the organization. Results and implications are discussed.     

The implications of turning down an international assignment: a psychological contracts perspective

Previous research has generally focused on employees’ willingness to accept international assignments and the rewards that are often associated with them. Little is known, however, about the potential career consequences of declining an international assignment. In this conceptual paper, psychological contract (PC) theory is used to develop propositions outlining factors that are likely to determine whether employees who turn down an international assignment will be viewed as having failed to live up to their obligations, by both the organization and themselves. Our theoretical model suggests that when the PC is breached due to the refusal of an international assignment, it may lead to reduced investments in the employee and, in turn, lower levels of objective and subjective career success for those who have spurned the offer to work abroad. We also address how the consequences of declining international assignments will affect perceptions of choice and international assignment refusal rates within organizations. We close by discussing directions for future research that can further examine the ideas and propositions developed in this paper.     

The impact of employment equity regulations on psychological contracts in South Africa

This article will show the impact of employment equity legislation on the psychological employment contracts of the three main employee groupings in South African society. This study is important in that it fills the gap in the literature that identifies labour market regulations as an important shaping influence on the psychological contract. More than 500 managers from across South African industry and from all ethnic groups were surveyed to identify differences in psychological contracts and attitudes towards the social transformation regulations. We found that the legislation has impacted differentially on the three groupings mainly in terms of their loyalty to stay with their organizations, the focus on their career development in terms of the external labour market and the degree to which they felt they had been affected by the legislation. Additionally we find that the perceived linkage between job satisfaction and labour turnover is significantly weakened by labour market legislation in the case of the beneficiaries of the legislation, but that this may not be the case for those negatively affected by the legislation. The findings have significant implications for the HRM practices of multinationals operating in societies with significant labour market regulatory interventions.     

目前我国大学生求职心理问题及工作方法探究

对于大学生来说,其求职心理需要以求职为中心,其产生、变化与发展过程通常较为复杂。面对激烈的就业竞争,在求职过程中许多大学生表现出不同的求职心理。本文从大学生求职心理的角度进行阐述,通过对大学生存在的求职心理问题及原因进行分析,同时为大学生提供相应的指导,进而在一定程度上帮助大学生摆脱求职心理困惑、求职心理冲突,让他们学会调节心态,从容、冷静地面对求职问题,并作出理智的选择。     

论心理咨询与德育的关系

高校心理咨询主要解决心理问题,德育偏重于思想问题。但心理是思想的基础,思想的发展受心理的影响和制约,心理活动的方向又受思想的支配。心理咨询与德育既有区别,又有联系,二者相互渗透、相互补充,要把二者有机统一起来。     

高职毕业生就业心理问题及应对措施

高职毕业生在就业的过程中处于相对劣势,因此部分毕业生存在很多心理问题。笔者认为应从职业价值观的建立、就业期望值的调整、就业能力的提高、积极面对就业挫折及适度的心理调试六个方面来应对高职毕业生的就业心理问题。     

Psychological contracts and change

The concept of psychological contracts is not new, but its popularity among managers is relatively recent. As with most interpersonal structures, we don't know we need it until it is gone. The massive amount of organizational change that took place in the 1980s left damaged relationships in its wake. Implementing changes while discounting human needs played havoc with psychological contracts. Organizations lost something they had taken for granted. As leaders realized they didn't just need more efficient processes and technology in order to compete, but also needed motivated people, psychological contracts became an important topic. Unfortunately the concept was often used as just another technique to try to force people to become what their leaders thought they should be. Psychological contracts aren't very useful for that kind of work. They are much better as a tool for understanding the human needs and problems in an organization—including the needs of the change agents and leaders.     

大学生就业心理问题及其调适

大学生就业心理是指其在思考就业问题、为获得职业做准备及在寻求职业的过程中受外部刺激所表现出的主观能动的反应和反映;目前我国大学生在情绪心理、认知心理、社会心理等方面都存在着一些就业心理问题;为了缓解大学生就业心理问题,应该从塑造大学生健康的就业心理、完善学校教育和发挥社会作用三个方面采取切实可行的措施。     

The challenge of responsibilities: Confronting the revolution in workplace rights in modern organizations

The contemporary world of work is experiencing a revolution in workplace rights thinking and practices. Included among factors related to this are professionalization and technocracy, management orthodoxy, corrupt organizational structures, the moral ineptitude of business education, the increasing size of the working population, worker mobility, worker diversity and the variegated cultural milieu, the growth of highly paid and very powerful workers, favorable solons, and supportive justices. Demands for protection and respect of rights are expressed in a variety of ways ranging from the statutory or economic to the ethical or psychological. Because of the correlative link between rights and responsibilities, organizational researchers and practitioners should be concerned with identifying various responsibilities implied by various employer and employee rights. Of equal importance is the challenge of examining in detail these responsibilities and how the strategies suggested by them can be used to manage specific employee rights in the contemporary workplace.     

不理想就业大学生心理问题探讨

本文针对大学生的不理想就业现状进行了分析,对大学生存在的心理问题进行了一定研究,总结了一定的改善大学生心理问题的建议,具有一定的现实意义和实践意义。     

浅谈高职生健康就业心理的正确培养

随着经济发展对人才要求的提高和就业形势的日益严峻,部分高职毕业生不能培养正确的就业心理,树立正确的就业观,例如:自卑引起就业的恐惧感;妄自尊大,就业定位过高;一味追求事业单位从而影响了高职教育的健康发展。文章通过对高职毕业生就业心理现状分析,提出了高职生健康就业心理培养的正确途径。     

Bargaining over incentive contracts

The incentive contract theory assumes that the principal holds all of the bargaining power. By introducing alternating offers and strategic delay into the nonlinear pricing model, we relax this assumption and analyze an infinite-horizon contract bargaining game. We attain either the “sequential separating equilibrium” or the “simultaneous separating equilibrium”, depending on the parameter values. We prove the existence and the uniqueness of the equilibrium, and claim that multidimensionality and strategic delay can help resolve the multiple equilibria problem of bargaining theory. When the time between offers approaches zero, either quantity distortion or delay persists.     

Scale development and validation of Transaction Cost Economics typology for contracts: A systems thinking approach

A variety of contract typologies that exist in the literature are helpful in the exploration of different approaches in contractual relations, but only when measured with the right instruments. Although Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) has a distinct, high-level, and abstract typology for contracts, it still lacks a measurement scale. In this paper, a measurement scale for the TCE contract typology (classical, neo-classical, and relational contracts) was developed and validated, using systems thinking approach and experimental design to contribute to the empirical tests of TCE within the contracting realm. First, the antecedents of contract selection within the TCE literature were analyzed using the systemigram technique to visualize and parse out complex relationships that lead to contract selection. The analysis of the TCE Systemigram helped the development of the scale and revealed the need to revisit the risk neutrality assumption embedded in TCE. Second, a measurement scale for the TCE contract typology (classical, neo-classical, and relational contracts) was developed adhering to the original texts of seminal papers and reviews from the TCE literature. Third, the 14-item measurement scale was validated using a series of three vignette-based experimental studies.Key messageThis research explores the antecedents of the TCE contract typology and develops a measurement scale for essential characteristics of classical, neo-classical, and relational contracts, as defined in TCE, using systems thinking approach and a novel vignette-based experimental design.     

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.     

Temporarily asymmetric information and labour contracts

Under the assumption that workers are more heavily credit rationed than firms, the standard model of testing and self-selection in the labour market is extended. The two main findings are that ex post inefficient termination may be used as a self-selection device and that when workers can be of more than two different productivities, only the best worker should be overpaid.