Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T09:34:55.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Delving into promises: Conceptually exploring the beliefs constituting the contemporary psychological contract

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2014

Sarah Bankins
Sarah Bankins*
Affiliation:
Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
*
Corresponding author: sarah.bankins@newcastle.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The psychological contract is used to examine the dynamics of the employee–employer exchange relationship. The dominant contract conceptualisation is that it is constituted by beliefs about ‘explicit’ and ‘implicit’ promises; however, there is a dearth of conceptual investigation regarding how other research fields understand promising and reconciling this with how the notion has come to be used in psychological contract theory. In particular, the notion of implicit promising remains conceptually and empirically underdeveloped, despite forming a key plank of the contemporary account of the contract. This paper explores these issues by presenting a cross-disciplinary review of promising and applying this to how the notion is used in the contract literature. A conceptual model is also developed to provide avenues to investigate how promise beliefs form in a contract context and their outcomes. Finally, research directions are outlined regarding the roles that beliefs other than promises can play in contract theory.

Keywords

organisational behaviourwork-related attitudes/behaviourstheoretical perspectivessocial exchangebeliefs
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , July 2014 , pp. 544 - 566
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, N., Meyer, J. (1990). Measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(1), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arshad, R., Sparrow, P. R. (2010). Downsizing and survivor reactions in Malaysia: Modelling antecedents and outcomes of psychological contract violation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(11), 1793–1815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. W. (1988). Children's understanding of the speech act of promising. Journal of Child Language, 15, 157–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Astington, J. W. (1990). Metapragmatics: Children's conception of promising. In G. Conti-Ramsden & C. Snow (Eds.), Children's language, vol. 7 (pp. 223–244). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Atiyah, P. S. (1981). Promises, morals and law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Bal, P. M., De Cooman, R., Mol, S. T. (2013). Dynamics of psychological contracts with work engagement and turnover intention: The influence of organizational tenure. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(1), 107–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bal, P., Jansen, P., Van der Velde, M., De Lange, A., Rousseau, D. (2010). The role of future time perspective in psychological contracts: A study among older workers. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76(3), 474–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, G. S. (1962). Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 70(5), 9–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernicot, J., Laval, V. (1996). Promises in French children: Comprehension and metapragmatic knowledge. Journal of Pragmatics, 25, 101–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York, USA: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Cartwright, J. P. W. (1984). An evidentiary theory of promises. Mind, 93(370), 230–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, N., Briner, R. (2002). A daily diary study of affective responses to psychological contract breach and exceeded promises. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 287–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, N., Briner, R. B. (2005). Understanding psychological contracts at work: A critical evaluation of theory and research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, N., Briner, R. (2009). Fifty years of psychological contract research: What do we know and what are the main challenges? International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 21, 71–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, N., Guest, D., Trenberth, L. (2011). Testing the differential effects of changes in psychological contract breach and fulfillment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(1), 267–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coyle-Shapiro, J., Kessler, I. (2002). Exploring reciprocity through the lens of the psychological contract: Employee and employer perspectives. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 11(1), 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coyle-Shapiro, J., Parzefall, M. R. (2008). Psychological contracts. In C. L. Cooper & J. Barling (Eds.), The Sage handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 17–34). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Coyle-Shapiro, J., Shore, L. M. (2007). The employee-organization relationship: Where do we go from here? Human Resource Management Review, 17, 166–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cropanzano, R., Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vos, A. (2005). The psychological contract of organisational newcomers: An investigation of antecedents and changes over time. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 5, 371–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vos, A., Buyens, D., Schalk, R. (2003). Psychological contract development during organizational socialization: Adaptation to reality and the role of reciprocity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24, 537–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vos, A., Buyens, D., Schalk, R. (2005). Making sense of a new employment relationship: Psychological contract-related information seeking and the role of work values and locus of control. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 13(1), 41–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vos, A., Freese, C. (2011). Sensemaking during organizational entry: Changes in newcomer information seeking and the relationship with psychological contract fulfilment. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 84(2), 288–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dulac, T., Coyle-Shapiro, J., Henderson, D. J., Wayne, S. J. (2008). Not all responses to breach are the same: The interconnection of social exchange and psychological contract processes in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 51(6), 1079–1098.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberger, R., Cotterell, N., Marvel, J. (1987). Reciprocation ideology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 743–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gakovic, A., Tetrick, L. E. (2003). Perceived organizational support and work status: A comparison of the employment relationships of part-time and full-time employees attending university classes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(5), 649–666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., Delaney, S. M. (1987). Pragmatic factors in making and understanding promises. Discourse Processes, 10, 107–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, C. J., Scott, R. E. (1980). Enforcing promises: An examination of the basis of contract. The Yale Law Journal, 89(7), 1261–1322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, V., Levesque, L. L. (2005). With a little help from my friends (and substitutes): Social referents and influence in psychological contract fulfillment. Organization Science, 16(3), 275–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, V., Rousseau, D. M., Levesque, L. L. (2006). Social networks and the psychological contract: Structural holes, cohesive ties, and beliefs regarding employer obligations. Human Relations, 59(4), 459–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, V., Weingart, L. E., Rousseau, D. (2004). Responses to broken promises: Does personality matter? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(2), 276–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hui, C., Lee, C., Rousseau, D. M. (2004). Psychological contract and organizational citizenship behavior in China: Investigating generalizability and instrumentality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(2), 311–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamdar, D., McAllister, D. J., Turban, D. B. (2006). All in a day's work: How follower individual differences and justice perceptions predict OCB role definitions and behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 841–855.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leslie, M. B. (1999). Enforcing family promises: Reliance, reciprocity, and relational contract. North Carolina Law Review, 77(2), 551–636.Google Scholar
Linde, B., Schalk, R. (2006). Experience of the employment relationship after a merger. Management Revue, 17(4), 484–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maas, F., Abbeduto, L. (1998). Young children's understanding of promising: Methodological considerations. Journal of Child Language, 25, 203–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macneil, I. R. (1985). Relational contract: What we do and do not know. Wisconsin Law Review, 1985(3), 483–525.Google Scholar
Migotti, M. (2003). All kinds of promises. Ethics, 114, 60–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molm, L. D., Peterson, G., Takahashi, N. (1999). Power in negotiated and reciprocal exchange. American Sociological Review, 64(6), 876–890.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montes, S. D., Zweig, D. (2009). Do promises matter? An exploration of the role of promises in psychological contract breach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1243–1260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrison, E., Robinson, S. L. (1997). When employees feel betrayed: A model of how psychological contract violation develops. The Academy of Management Review, 22(1), 226–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, T. W. H., Feldman, D. C. (2007). Job embeddedness and career embeddedness across career stages. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 336–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, T. W. H., Feldman, D. C. (2008). Can you get a better deal elsewhere? The effects of psychological contract replicability on organizational commitment over time. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73(2), 268–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, T. W. H., Feldman, D. C. (2009). Age, work experience, and the psychological contract. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 1053–1075.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, T. W. H., Feldman, D. C. (2014). Psychological contract breaches and employee voice behaviour: The moderating effects of changes in social relationships. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(4), 537–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parzefall, M. R., Coyle-Shapiro, J. (2011). Making sense of psychological contract breach. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 26(1), 12–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Restubog, S. L., Bordia, P., Tang, R., Krebs, S. (2010). Investigating the moderating effects of leader-member exchange in the psychological contract breach-employee performance relationship: A test of two competing perspectives. British Journal of Management, 21(2), 422–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Restubog, S. L., Hornsey, M., Bordia, P., Esposo, S. (2008). Effects of psychological contract breach on organizational citizenship behaviour: Insights from the group value model. Journal of Management Studies, 45(8), 1377–1400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, S. L. (1996). Trust and breach of the psychological contract. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 574–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, S. L., Kraatz, M., Rousseau, D. (1994). Changing obligations and the psychological contract: A longitudinal study. Academy of Management Journal, 37(1), 137–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, S. L., Morrison, E. (1995). Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(3), 289–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, S. L., Morrison, E. (2000). The development of psychological contract breach and violation: A longitudinal study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 525–546.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, S. L., Rousseau, D. M. (1994). Violating the psychological contract: Not the exception but the norm. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15(3), 245–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roehling, M. V. (1997). The origins and early development of the psychological contract construct. Journal of Management History, 3, 203–217.Google Scholar
Roehling, M. V. (2008). An empirical assessment of alternative conceptualizations of the psychological contract: Meaningful differences or ‘much to do about nothing’? Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 20, 261–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D. (1989). Psychological and implied contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 2, 121–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D. (1990). New hire perceptions of their own and their employer's obligations: A study of psychological contracts. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 11(5), 389–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D. (1995). Psychological contracts in organisations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D. (2001). Schema, promise and mutuality: The building blocks of the psychological contract. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74, 511–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D. (2010). The individual-organization relationship: The psychological contract. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, vol. 3 (pp. 191–220). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D., McLean Parks, J. (1993). The contracts of individuals and organizations. In B. M. Staw & L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior, vol. 15 (pp. 1–43). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D., Tijoriwala, S. (1998). Assessing psychological contracts: Issues, alternatives and types of measures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 679–695.3.0.CO;2-N>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scanlon, T. M. (1998). What we owe to each other. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schalk, R., Roe, R. E. (2007). Towards a dynamic model of the psychological contract. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 37, 167–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shore, L. M., Bommer, W., Rao, A., Seo, J. (2009). Social and economic exchange in the employee-organization relationship: The moderating role of reciprocation wariness. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(8), 701–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shore, L. M., Coyle-Shapiro, J., Chen, X.-P., Tetrick, L. E. (2009). Social exchange in work settings: Content, process, and mixed models. Management and Organization Review, 5(3), 289–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shore, L. M., Shore, T. H. (1995). Perceived organizational support and organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano & K. Kacmar (Eds.), Organizational politics, justice and support: Managing the social climate of the workplace (pp. 149–164). London: Quorum Books.Google Scholar
Smith, M. B. E. (1972–1973). Is there a prima facie obligation to obey the law? The Yale Law Journal, 82, 950–976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sparrow, P. R., Cooper, C. L. (1998). New organizational forms: The strategic relevance of future psychological contract scenarios. Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, 15(4), 356–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suazo, M. M., Martinez, P. G., Sandoval, R. (2009). Creating psychological and legal contracts through human resource practices: A signaling theory perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 19, 154–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suazo, M. M., Turnley, W. H. (2010). Perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relations between individual differences and psychological contract breach. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(6), 620–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suazo, M. M., Turnley, W. H., Mai-Dalton, R. R. (2008). Characteristics of the supervisor-subordinate relationship as predictors of psychological contract breach. Journal of Managerial Issues, 20(3), 295–312.Google Scholar
Tekleab, A., Chiaburu, D. S. (2011). Social exchange: Empirical examination of form and focus. Journal of Business Research, 64, 460–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tekleab, A., Takeuchi, R., Taylor, M. (2005). Extending the chain of relationships among organizational justice, social exchange, and employee reactions: The role of contract violations. Academy of Management Journal, 48(1), 146–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tekleab, A., Taylor, S. (2003). Aren't there two parties in an employment relationship? Antecedents and consequences of organization-employee agreement on contract obligations and violations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(5), 585–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnley, W. H., Feldman, D. C. (1999). A discrepancy model of psychological contract violations. Human Resource Management Review, 9(3), 367–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, G. (2003). Asserting and promising. Philosophical Studies, 117, 57–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westwood, R., Sparrow, P. R., Leung, A. (2001). Challenges to the psychological contract in Hong Kong. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(4), 621–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Heuvel, S., Schalk, R. (2009). The relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to change during organizational transformations. Social Science Information, 48(2), 283–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zagenczyk, T. J., Gibney, R., Kiewitz, C., Restubog, S. L. D. (2009). Mentors, supervisors and role models: Do they reduce the effects of psychological contract breach? Human Resource Management Journal, 19(3), 237–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar