Abstract
Despite the wealth of research showing that psychological contract breach (PCB) has negative outcomes for individuals, knowledge about the influence of the social context in which breaches are experienced is still scarce. This is surprising, as scholars have argued that work climates, such as when unit members are generally highly committed, could buffer an individual's negative experiences at work. Yet, to date, the unit climate and PCB literatures have largely remained separated and our main goal is to integrate these fields. This is especially timely and relevant, because recent work in the unit climate literature indicates that merely looking at the average climate level might not be enough, because the climate's strength (i.e., the agreement or homogeneity within the unit) could also provide important social cues. Building on these recent advances, we develop and test a theoretical framework which links both climate concepts to PCB. More specifically, we hypothesized that especially when all unit members are highly and homogeneously committed, an employee would reframe their PCB in such a way that it would less adversely affect work engagement and turnover intentions. Using data from 1,272 employees across 36 healthcare units, multilevel structural path analyses supported this three-way interaction. By answering recent calls for more "social PCB research" and integrating the unit climate and PCB literatures, we aim to provide guidance to scholars and practitioners who want to understand in more depth the social context's influence on PCB.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 473 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-13 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | MAR |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 5 Mar 2019 |
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Keywords
- Conservation of resource theory (COR)
- Psychological contract breach
- Social information processing (SIP) theory
- Turnover intentions
- Unit climate
- Work engagement
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Buffering the breach : Examining the three-way interaction between unit climate level, strength, and psychological contract breach. / Akkermans, Jos; Bal, P. Matthijs; De Jong, Simon B.
In: Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 10, No. MAR, 473, 05.03.2019, p. 1-13.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Buffering the breach
T2 - Examining the three-way interaction between unit climate level, strength, and psychological contract breach
AU - Akkermans, Jos
AU - Bal, P. Matthijs
AU - De Jong, Simon B.
PY - 2019/3/5
Y1 - 2019/3/5
N2 - Despite the wealth of research showing that psychological contract breach (PCB) has negative outcomes for individuals, knowledge about the influence of the social context in which breaches are experienced is still scarce. This is surprising, as scholars have argued that work climates, such as when unit members are generally highly committed, could buffer an individual's negative experiences at work. Yet, to date, the unit climate and PCB literatures have largely remained separated and our main goal is to integrate these fields. This is especially timely and relevant, because recent work in the unit climate literature indicates that merely looking at the average climate level might not be enough, because the climate's strength (i.e., the agreement or homogeneity within the unit) could also provide important social cues. Building on these recent advances, we develop and test a theoretical framework which links both climate concepts to PCB. More specifically, we hypothesized that especially when all unit members are highly and homogeneously committed, an employee would reframe their PCB in such a way that it would less adversely affect work engagement and turnover intentions. Using data from 1,272 employees across 36 healthcare units, multilevel structural path analyses supported this three-way interaction. By answering recent calls for more "social PCB research" and integrating the unit climate and PCB literatures, we aim to provide guidance to scholars and practitioners who want to understand in more depth the social context's influence on PCB.
AB - Despite the wealth of research showing that psychological contract breach (PCB) has negative outcomes for individuals, knowledge about the influence of the social context in which breaches are experienced is still scarce. This is surprising, as scholars have argued that work climates, such as when unit members are generally highly committed, could buffer an individual's negative experiences at work. Yet, to date, the unit climate and PCB literatures have largely remained separated and our main goal is to integrate these fields. This is especially timely and relevant, because recent work in the unit climate literature indicates that merely looking at the average climate level might not be enough, because the climate's strength (i.e., the agreement or homogeneity within the unit) could also provide important social cues. Building on these recent advances, we develop and test a theoretical framework which links both climate concepts to PCB. More specifically, we hypothesized that especially when all unit members are highly and homogeneously committed, an employee would reframe their PCB in such a way that it would less adversely affect work engagement and turnover intentions. Using data from 1,272 employees across 36 healthcare units, multilevel structural path analyses supported this three-way interaction. By answering recent calls for more "social PCB research" and integrating the unit climate and PCB literatures, we aim to provide guidance to scholars and practitioners who want to understand in more depth the social context's influence on PCB.
KW - Conservation of resource theory (COR)
KW - Psychological contract breach
KW - Social information processing (SIP) theory
KW - Turnover intentions
KW - Unit climate
KW - Work engagement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065176576&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85065176576&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00473
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00473
M3 - Article
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
SN - 1664-1078
IS - MAR
M1 - 473
ER -