Judy Pate

The impact of psychological contract violation on employee attitudes and behaviour

Psychological contract violation has gained the attention of both practitioners and academics in recent years. Critical commentaries have questioned whether breaching such a contract has implications for employee attitude and behaviour, and ultimately organisational performance. This paper addresses the question “To what extent does psychological contract breach impact on employee attitude and behaviour?”. The study is based on an industrial textiles company and draws on quantitative and qualitative data. The findings suggested that triggers of violation impinged on employee attitudes but not on behaviour, trends substantiated by analysis of the organisations absenteeism records. The qualitative data helped explain this trend and have highlighted two contextual issues. The first of these is labour market conditions and perceptions of job insecurity and second of these is a sense of collegiality and pride in the job.

Company‐based lifelong learning: what’s the pay‐off for employers?

Addresses the question: will investment in HRD through company‐based programmes of lifelong learning pay dividends to companies in terms of knowledge transfer from courses and more positive psychological contracts? Develops a model of the relationship between HRD investment, the content of psychological contracts and key consequences such as satisfaction, continuance commitment and knowledge transfer. This model is tested empirically using data from a survey of a cohort of participants in a major Scottish electronics company. The results show that the programme paid off in terms of more positive psychological contracts and knowledge transfer. However, contrary to other research, the nature of the transfer climate (e.g. manager support, career and salary advancement, etc.) was not seen to be important in affecting knowledge transfer. This latter finding has important implications for HR policies in knowledge creating companies.

The changing contours of the psychological contract: unpacking context and circumstances of breach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a processual framework of psychological contract breach, which maps holistically the interactions among concepts drawn from the trust and justice literature. However, the price of a holistic picture is frequently a lack of depth of analysis of any single variable, and consequently the second part of the paper seeks to unpack a central variable, circumstances of breach.Design/ methodological approach – Draws on findings from a four‐year qualitative study and investigates the psychological contract in situ. The issue of circumstances of breach was explored inductively by applying in‐depth employee case histories using theory‐based sampling.Findings – Key findings indicate that breach may occur as a result of direct or indirect organisational actions. Further the degree of reaction may differ according to the type of trigger (i.e. a distributive, procedural or interactional justice issue) and also the extent to which the organisation is held responsible.Resea...

Trust in senior management in the public sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the important issue of trust in senior management in the public sector. More specifically, the research aims to explore to what extent has there been a downward spiral of trust in public sector senior management in the eyes of their employees in recent years, and whether this trend spans the public sector as a whole.Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies from two public sector organisations, which are of very different character. The question being asking of the data is whether a relatively similar percentage of the workforce lacks trust in senior management and whether this is for essentially the same reasons. An attitude survey of the population of both case study organisations was conducted in conjunction with focus groups.Findings – The findings in the paper revealed two important matters. First, longitudinal data indicates that relative distrust of senior management is enduring and cannot be e...

Post‐ “psychological contract” violation: the durability and transferability of employee perceptions: the case of TimTec

This paper is concerned with the role played by the psychological contract in the relationship between an individual and his or her employer. In particular, the research concentrates on a prior perceived violation of an employee’s psychological contract and the subsequent attitudes towards employers. The aims of the paper are to assess the nature, transferability and durability of outcomes arising from the perceived violations. Draws on the perceptions of 20 employees from a range of employment settings who five years earlier shared a common experience with a previous employer. The evidence suggested that a negative experience with one employer led to negative perceptions of employers in terms of trust, loyalty and commitment. Further, the study suggested that outcomes as a result of perceived violation are durable. Finally, the paper supported the findings of that after violation; the transactional contract assumes primacy over the psychological.

Bullying and harassment: a case of success?

Purpose – This paper aims to examine an attempt by an organisation to address the significant problem of bullying and harassment. In doing so the paper particularly centres on the question of how the relative success of bullying and harassment policies might be measured.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a quantitative longitudinal study of a single organisation.Findings – The findings revealed that there was a significant reduction in perceptions of bullying in the organisation. The level of trust in senior management, however, was not enhanced as a result of the success.Research limitations/implications – The study emphasises the need for further research on measuring the outcomes of bullying and harassment policies and also work is required to further the understanding of trust between senior management and their workforce.Practical implications – The paper highlights the importance, and difficulties, in assessing the success of policies such as bullying and harassment. In many respect...

Accrediting Competencies: A Case of Scottish Vocational Qualifications.

This paper reports the findings of a case study undertaken in the Scottish hospitality industry of which the process of accrediting competencies has been positively experienced by employees and managers of Montpelier (Edinburgh) Ltd. The paper begins by reviewing some of the British and American theoretical and practical literature on the accreditation of competencies to raise some of the issues which are addressed by our data. The study draws on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in order to evaluate the value of Scottish vocational qualifications (SVQs) to both the employee and employer. The findings suggest that, on balance, the competence approach has proven to be a popular and useful method of job and career development for those people participating in the programme and provides a useful development framework for the employer.

Do HRD investment strategies pay? Exploring the relationship between lifelong learning and psychological contracts

In the context of the debate over the returns on investment from company-level HRD strategies, this article explores the relationship between a programme of lifelong learning and employee perceptions of their psychological contracts. It does so through an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data drawn from a longitudinal case study of a well-known Scottish company. The data provide evidence of a positive relationship between the lifelong learning programme and employee perceptions of careers, fairness, and certain key outcomes of psycho-logical contracts, even when the company reduced its previous commitment to job security. This finding allows us to speculate on the positive relationship between HRD and trust relations and the importance of this relationship for future organisational change in the plant.

Organisations and the issue of multiple identities: who loves you baby?

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between organisational identification and identification with work group and profession for knowledge workers. The literature points to two competing standpoints, first, a compatible relationship between focal points of identity and second, a trade off relationship whereby an increase in one is at the expense of another.Design/methodology/approach – Using the population of a large public UK sector organisation ordinary least squares regression was used to examine these relationships.Findings – The findings established a strong relationship in which work group, organisational and professional identification were compatible.Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate, at least in this context, that no inherent trade off or problem reconciling multiple identities was evident. Regrettably the authors do not have the capacity to comment on the weighting or the relative importance placed on each focus of identity; this is an area for future...

The uncertain road to partnership: An action research perspective on “new industrial relations” in the UK offshore oil industry

This paper examines the problems involved in developing collective bargaining in the traditionally non‐union environment of the strategically important UK offshore oil industry. In doing so it provides evidence on the success of the “new”, stakeholder industrial relations environment established by the present UK government. Drawing on an in‐depth insight into management and union strategies gained from action research, the paper documents the attempt to establish a collective agreement and a partnership approach to industrial relations in the drilling sector of the North Sea offshore oil industry, a sector which has had no previous history of unionisation. In doing the research provides evidence partnership policy, the literature on union recognition and the process of negotiation in international organisations.