Prashant Bordia

When Employees Strike Back: Investigating Mediating Mechanisms Between Psychological Contract Breach and Workplace Deviance

In this article, psychological contract breach, revenge, and workplace deviance are brought together to identify the cognitive, affective, and motivational underpinnings of workplace deviance. On the basis of S. L. Robinson and R. J. Bennetts (1997) model of workplace deviance, the authors proposed that breach (a cognitive appraisal) and violation (an affective response) initiate revenge seeking. Motivated by revenge, employees then engage in workplace deviance. Three studies tested these ideas. All of the studies supported the hypothesized relationships. In addition, self-control was found to be a moderator of the relationship between revenge cognitions and deviant acts; the relationship was weaker for people high in self-control.

Uncertainty during Organizational Change: Managing Perceptions through Communication

Abstract Although uncertainty has been identified as a major consequence of organizational change for employees, there still remains a lack of understanding regarding the processes through which employees address such perceptions. This research examines the role that different sources of communication play in addressing change-related uncertainty for employees. Firstly, a qualitative study was conducted in which 25 interviews with employees from a range of organizations were undertaken. The goal of the first study was to examine how employees manage change-related uncertainties. From employee responses, it was revealed that specific change-related uncertainties may be best addressed by different sources of communication. Findings suggest that direct supervisors are the preferred sources of implementation-related and job-relevant information during change, while senior management typically provide more strategic information. Furthermore, results indicated that trust influences which sources employees seek information from and how they appraise the information they receive. Secondly, a quantitative field study was conducted in a large government department that was about to undergo a restructure of its corporate and human services divisions. This follow-up study was designed to provide a partial examination of the relationships identified in the qualitative study. Results indicated that employees who perceived they received quality change communication reported being more open toward the change. In addition, change-related uncertainty mediated this relationship. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical contributions to the change management literature, and the implications regarding effective communication strategies during change.

Behavioural Outcomes of Psychological Contract Breach in a Non-Western Culture: The Moderating Role of Equity Sensitivity

This study tests the effects of psychological contract breach on several employee outcomes: workplace deviant behaviours directed at the organization (WD-O) and its organizational members (WD-I), in-role performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours directed at the organization (OCB-O) and its co-workers (OCB-I). It also examines the moderating effects of equity sensitivity in the relationship between breach and these outcomes. Data were collected from 162 sales executives and their direct supervisors. We found that breach was related to all behavioural outcomes. Equity sensitivity and breach also interacted in predicting OCB-I, OCB-O and WD-I. The negative relationships between breach and OCB-O and OCB-I were stronger for employees with an outcome-focused approach to organizational relationships than for those with an input-focused approach. In addition, breach had stronger positive effects on WD-I especially for those individuals who are output-oriented compared to those who are input-focused.

Haunted by the Past: Effects of Poor Change Management History on Employee Attitudes and Turnover

Change management research has largely ignored the effects of organizational change management history in shaping employee attitudes and behavior. This article develops and tests a model of the effects of poor change management history (PCMH) on employee attitudes (trust, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, change cynicism, and openness to change) and actual turnover. We found that PCMH, through PCMH beliefs, led to lower trust, job satisfaction and openness to change, and higher cynicism and turnover intentions. Also, PCMH beliefs predicted employee turnover over 2 years.

Rumor, Gossip and Urban Legends

The term ‘rumor’ is often used interchangeably with ‘gossip’ and ‘urban legend’ by both laypersons and scholars. In this article we attempt to clarify the construct of rumor by proposing a definition that delineates the situational and motivational contexts from which rumors arise (ambiguous, threatening or potentially threatening situations), the functions that rumors perform (sense-making and threat management), and the contents of rumor statements (unverified and instrumentally relevant information statements in circulation). To further clarify the rumor construct we also investigate the contexts, functions and contents of gossip and urban legends, juxtapose these with rumor, and analyze their similarities and differences.

Management Are Aliens!: Rumors and Stress during Organizational Change

Rumors collected from a large public hospital undergoing change were content analyzed, and a typology comprising the following five broad types of change-related rumors was developed: rumors about changes to job and working conditions, nature of organizational change, poor change management, consequences of the change for organizational performance, and gossiprumors. Rumors were also classified as positive or negative on the basis of their content. As predicted, negative rumors were more prevalent than positive rumors. Finally, employees reporting negative rumors also reported more change-related stress as compared to those who reported positive rumors and those who did not report any rumors. The authors propose that rumors be treated as verbal symbols and expressions of employee concerns during organizational change.

Breach Begets Breach: Trickle-Down Effects of Psychological Contract Breach on Customer Service

Adopting a multifoci approach to psychological contract breach (i.e., breach by the organization referent and breach by the supervisor referent), the authors propose a trickle-down model of breach. Results from three studies show that supervisor perceptions of organizational breach are negatively related to supervisor citizenship behaviors toward the subordinate, resulting in subordinate perceptions of supervisory breach. Subordinate breach perceptions are, in turn, negatively related to subordinate citizenship behaviors toward the customer and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. The findings demonstrate the interconnected nature of social exchange relationships at work and draw attention to the effects of breach for other employees and customers.

The Role of Team Identification in the Dissimilarity-Conflict Relationship

This study examined the role of team identification in the dissimilarity and conflict relationship. We tested competing predictions that team identification would either mediate or moderate the positive associations between visible (age, gender and ethnic background), professional (background) and value dissimilarity and task and relationship conflict. Data was collected from 27 MBA student teams twice during a semester. Multilevel modelling and a longitudinal design were used. Results showed that value dissimilarity was positively associated with task and relationship conflict at Time 2. Its effects on relationship conflict at Time 1 were moderated by team identification. Team identification also moderated the effects of gender, age and ethnic dissimilarity on task conflict at Time 2, and the effects of gender and professional dissimilarity on relationship conflict at Time 2. No support was obtained for the mediating role of team identification on the associations between dissimilarity and conflict, or for changes in the effects of dissimilarity over time.

Investigating the Moderating Effects of Leader–Member Exchange in the Psychological Contract Breach–Employee Performance Relationship: A Test of Two Competing Perspectives

Leader–member exchange (LMX) has been characterized as a form of social support capable of buffering the effects of negative work experiences. However, employees with high-quality relationships with leaders in the organization may have stronger negative reactions when psychological contracts are breached. Thus, while a social support perspective would suggest that LMX minimizes the adverse impact of psychological contract breach on employee performance, a betrayal perspective proposes that high LMX would aggravate the negative effects. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, results across three samples provided support for the betrayal perspective. That is, breach had a stronger negative relationship with organizational citizenship behaviours and in-role performance under conditions of high LMX. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.

Predictors of management development effectiveness: an Australian perspective

Management development is increasingly adopted by organizations seeking to attract and retain talented employees. This research project assessed the current state of management development in Australia. Specifically, this paper sought to identify variables associated with management development effectiveness. A model of management development effectiveness was developed and tested in this study through path analysis using the Analysis of Moment Structures Program. Data were collected from 206 managers in 153 organizations in Australia. Eighteen different industries are represented in the sample. The observed model had a good fit with the predicted model and all the predicted paths were significant and in the expected direction. Link to corporate strategy and opportunities for skill utilization were the two variables most closely associated with management development effectiveness. The implications of these findings for improving management development effectiveness are discussed.