Association Journals

Affective Responses to Psychological Contract Breach and Work Attitudes : Testing a Moderating Effect of Careerism

Yuhee JUNG(Waseda University)

Most psychological contract research has exclusively examined the impact of psychological contract breach (i.e., individuals’ cognitive aspects) on work attitudes and behaviors. On the other hand, the effects of psychological contract violation (i.e., individuals’ emotional aspects) have not been sufficiently investigated. Further, although impacts of psychological contract breach/violation on work attitudes may differ according to individuals’ career orientations, career perspective has been excluded in psychological contract research. Based on affective events theory, we attempt to test (1) the mediating effect of psychological contract violation in the relationship between psychological contract breach and work attitudes, and (2) the moderating effect of careerism on the relationship between psychological contract violation and work attitudes, using time-lagged data collected from Korean employees. The results show that (1) psychological contract breach increases psychological contract violation, which results in lower job satisfaction, organization commitment and intention to stay, and (2) careerism tends to alleviate negative effects of psychological contract violation on work attitudes.

Keyword : psychological contract breach, psychological contract violation, careerism, work attitude, affective events theory

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