A study of the impact of psychological contract violation on employee attitudes and behaviour

J. Pate, G. Martin, J. McGoldrick

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    76 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Psychological contract violation has gained the attention of both practitioners and academics in recent years. Critical commentaries have questioned whether breaching such a contract has implications for employee attitude and behaviour, and ultimately organisational performance. This paper addresses the question “To what extent does psychological contract breach impact on employee attitude and behaviour?”. The study is based on an industrial textiles company and draws on quantitative and qualitative data. The findings suggested that triggers of violation impinged on employee attitudes but not on behaviour, trends substantiated by analysis of the organisation's absenteeism records. The qualitative data helped explain this trend and have highlighted two contextual issues. The first of these is labour market conditions and perceptions of job insecurity and second of these is a sense of collegiality and pride in the job.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)557-573
    Number of pages17
    JournalEmployee Relations
    Volume25
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

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