Yannick Griep

Antecedents of Psychological Contract Breach: The Role of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Affect

While it has been shown that psychological contract breach leads to detrimental outcomes, relatively little is known about factors leading to perceptions of breach. We examine if job demands and resources predict breach perceptions. We argue that perceiving high demands elicits negative affect, while perceiving high resources stimulates positive affect. Positive and negative affect, in turn, influence the likelihood that psychological contract breaches are perceived. We conducted two experience sampling studies to test our hypotheses: the first using daily surveys in a sample of volunteers, the second using weekly surveys in samples of volunteers and paid employees. Our results confirm that job demands and resources are associated with negative and positive affect respectively. Mediation analyses revealed that people who experienced high job resources were less likely to report psychological contract breach, because they experienced high levels of positive affect. The mediating role of negative affect was more complex, as it increased the likelihood to perceive psychological contract breach, but only in the short-term.

Trajectories of job demands and control: risk for subsequent symptoms of major depression in the nationally representative Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)

PurposeDepression is a global health concern. High job demands, low job control, and the combination (high strain) are associated with depression. However, few longitudinal studies have investigated changed or repeated exposure to demands and control related to depression. We investigated how trajectories of exposure to job demands and control jointly influence subsequent depression.MethodsWe included 7949 subjects from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health, who completed questionnaires of perceived job demands and control, and depressive symptoms from 2006 to 2014. None of them were depressed between 2006 and 2012. Univariate and joint group-based trajectory models identified groups with similar development of demands and control across 2006–2012. Logistic regression estimated the risk for symptoms of major depression in 2014 according to joint trajectory groups.ResultsThe joint trajectory model included seven groups, all with fairly stable levels of demands and control over time. Subjects in the high strain and active (high demands and high control) trajectories were significantly more likely to have subsequent major depressive symptoms compared to those having low strain, controlling for demographic covariates (OR 2.15; 95% Cl 1.24–3.74 and OR 2.04; 95% CI 1.23–3.40, respectively). The associations did not remain statistically significant after adjusting for previous depressive symptoms in addition to demographic covariates.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the levels of job demands and control were relatively unchanged across 6xa0years and suggest that long-term exposure to a high strain or active job may be associated with increased risk for subsequent depression.

The relationship between organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying: A three-wave longitudinal study

ABSTRACT While research has unravelled the association between organisational change and being a target of workplace bullying, scholars have still to shed light on the perpetrator perspective of this association. In the current study, we further the literature by investigating the relationship between exposure to organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying. We introduced perceptions of psychological contract breach as a mechanism that accounts for the process in which exposure to organisational change leads employees to direct bullying behaviours to other members of the organisation. Using three-wave longitudinal data from 1994 employees we estimated a between-subjects mediation model controlling for autoregressive effects. Results confirmed our hypothesis that exposure to organisational change at Time 1 was positively related to being a perpetrator of workplace bullying at Time 3 through perceptions of psychological contract breach at Time 2. These findings suggest that organisations should invest in factors that lower employees’ likelihood to perceive psychological contract breach in the aftermath of organisational change because these perceptions may indeed result in the enactment of workplace bullying towards other members of the organisation.

Social and Environmental Pressures in Management Education: How Anticipatory Stress and Social Support Interact to Predict Students’ Academic Engagement and Performance

The chapter reports on antecedents and outcomes of first-year management students’ educational engagement. Specifically, the research focused on the role of (1) anticipatory stress (i.e., stress experienced by students prior to the start of term), (2) early social support for students by instructors (at the first week of the academic year), and (3) the effects of early socialization activities (organized by the university to improve student integration) on students’ academic engagement during their first term. Drawing on comparisons with workplace commitment (Solinger et al., Organization Science, 24(6): 1640–1661, 2013), the report describes different developmental paths of academic engagement: (1) increasing academic engagement over time (‘learning to love’), (2) decreasing academic engagement over time (‘honeymoon hangover’), and (3) high, moderate, or low stable academic engagement. These different paths or trajectories were found to correspond to differences in students’ grade point averages (GPAs) at the end of the first term.

Let's get cynical about this! Recursive relationships between psychological contract breach and counterproductive work behaviour

Although counterproductive work behaviour towards the organization (CWB-O) or supervisors (CWB-S) is commonly treated as a reaction to psychological contract breach (PCB), we propose that the PCB-C ...

Editorial: Unravelling the Role of Time in Psychological Contract Processes

The psychological contract (PC) is considered a critical construct in organizational behavior. Upon organizational entry individuals form a PC containing beliefs about the reciprocal obligations between themselves and their employer (Rousseau, 1989, 2001). The PC is self-regulatory and influences how the employee perceives and interprets past, present, and future interactions with the employer. When employees perceive that their employer has failed to fulfill its obligations (i.e., PC breach) they may develop negative affective reactions (e.g., violation feelings; Morrison and Robinson, 1997), negative attitudes, and negative behaviors (for meta-analyses see Zhao et al., 2007; Bal et al., 2008). While the existing PC literature offers a solid theoretical foundation to understand the relationship between perceptions of PC breach, violation feelings, and employee reactions, most PC research has examined relationships in a static, or contemporaneous, manner and has overlooked the temporal context in which PC breach and employee reactions are interrelated and potentially reinforcing to each other over time (for a general critique see Mitchell and James, 2001). The contemporaneous study of PC breach and employee reactions is problematic because it ignores temporal context and the adjustments that employees make to their attitudes and behaviors over time. As such, the current literature fails to acknowledge that the PC is a dynamic construct that is formed, maintained, disrupted, and repaired over time (e.g., Schalk and Roe, 2007; Tomprou et al., 2015; Hansen and Griep, 2016), and that relationships between PC breach and employee reactions that exist at one point in time may not necessarily exist, or vary in strength, at another point in time (see Hansen and Griep, 2016; Griep and Vantilborgh, 2018). This Research Topic is devoted to advancing the PC field by exploring valuable knowledge concerning the role of time in PC processes. In the following, we lay out some critical areas of inquiry in understanding the role of time, and highlight how the innovative set of papers in this Research Topic illustrate exciting future research directions.

I Am So Tired… How Fatigue May Exacerbate Stress Reactions to Psychological Contract Breach

Previous research showed that perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breach have undesirable individual and organizational consequences. Surprisingly, the PC literature has paid little to no attention to the relationship between PC breach perceptions and stress. A better understanding of how PC breach may elicit stress seems crucial, given that stress plays a key role in employees physical and mental well-being. Based on Conservation of Resources Theory, we suggest that PC breach perceptions represent a perceived loss of valued resources, subsequently leading employees to experience higher stress levels resulting from emerging negative emotions. Moreover, we suggest that this mediated relationship is moderated by initial levels of fatigue, due to fatigue lowering the personal resources necessary to cope with breach events. To tests our hypotheses, we analyzed the multilevel data we obtained from two experience sampling designs (Study 1: 51 Belgian employees; Study 2: 53 US employees). Note that the unit of analysis is “observations” rather than “respondents,” resulting in an effective sample size of 730 (Study 1) and 374 (Study 2) observations. In both studies, we found evidence for the mediating role of negative emotions in the PC breach—stress relationship. In the second study, we also found evidence for the moderating role of fatigue in the mediated PC breach—stress relationship. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

“I Can Only Work So Hard Before I Burn Out.” A Time Sensitive Conceptual Integration of Ideological Psychological Contract Breach, Work Effort, and Burnout

Employees often draw meaning from personal experiences and contributions in their work, particularly when engaging in organizational activities that align with their personal identity or values. However, recent empirical findings have demonstrated how meaningful work can also have a negative effect on employee’s well-being as employees feel so invested in their work, they push themselves beyond their limits resulting in strain and susceptibility to burnout. We develop a framework to understand this “double edged” role of meaningful work by drawing from ideological psychological contracts (iPCs), which are characterized by employees and their employer who are working to contribute to a shared ideology or set of values. Limited iPC research has demonstrated employees may actually work harder in response to an iPC breach. In light of these counterintuitive findings, we propose the following conceptual model to theoretically connect our understanding of iPCs, perceptions of breach, increases in work effort, and the potential “dark side” of repeated occurrences of iPC breach. We argue that time plays a central role in the unfolding process of employees’ reactions to iPC breach over time. Further, we propose how perceptions of iPC breach relate to strain and, eventually, burnout. This model contributes to our understanding of the role of time in iPC development and maintenance, expands our exploration of ideology in the PC literature, and provides a framework to understanding why certain occupations are more susceptible to instances of strain and burnout. This framework has the potential to guide future employment interventions in ideology-infused organizations to help mitigate negative employee outcomes.

Personality, Religion, and Politics: An Investigation in 33 Countries: Personality, religion, and politics

The relations of HEXACO personality factors and religiosity with political orientation were examined in responses collected online from participants in 33 countries (N = 141 492). Endorsement of a right–wing political orientation was negatively associated with Honesty–Humility and Openness to Experience and positively associated with religiosity. The strength of these associations varied widely across countries, such that the religiosity–politics correlations were stronger in more religious countries, whereas the personality–politics correlations were stronger in more developed countries. We also investigated the utility of the narrower traits (i.e. facets) that define the HEXACO factors. The Altruism facet (interstitially located between the Honesty–Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality axes) was negatively associated with right–wing political orientation, but religiosity was found to suppress this relationship, especially in religious countries. In addition to Altruism, the Greed Avoidance and Modesty facets of the Honesty–Humility factor and the Unconventionality and Aesthetic Appreciation facets of the Openness to Experience factor were also negatively associated with right–wing political orientation. We discuss the utility of examining facet–level personality traits, along with religiosity, in research on the individual difference correlates of political orientation. Copyright

ONE BIG HAPPY ENGINEERING FAMILY? THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACTS ON TEAM OUTCOMES AND THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PERSON-TEAM FIT

Teamwork is frequently used to tackle complex and demanding tasks in organizational and educational settings. While teamwork may offer substantial benefits, the challenges of working effectively in teams are considerable. This study examines the roles of psychological contract breach and person-team fit in relation to teams’ effectiveness. Twelve teams of electrical and computer engineering students were surveyed at three time points to assess their perceptions of personteam fit and psychological contract breach. Results of a longitudinal mediation model supported our hypotheses that team level psychological contract breach would result in decreased supplementary fit and increased complementary fit. Regarding team outcomes, we found that perceptions of supplementary fit increased team member peer feedback ratings, while perceptions of complementary fit increased team potency. Follow-up analyses revealed that psychological safety was positively related to psychological contract breach. Implications for practice are discussed.