When I'm 64: Psychological contract breach,work motivation and the moderating roles of future time perspective and regulatory focus

Abstract

There is an increasing need for managers to understand what motivates younger versus older workers to continue work within their company. We believe that this two-wave study among 90 Dutch employees is the first to examine: (1) the cross-lagged relationships between breach of psychological contract (which includes transactional and relational obligations) and intrinsic work motivation, and (2) the moderating role of the age-related variables future time perspective and regulatory focus. Regulatory focus concerns the orientation (either promotion-focused or prevention-focused) by which an individual pursues their goals. Based on psychological contract theory, we expected and found that relational contract breach predicts lower work motivation. Furthermore, based on lifespan developmental and regulatory focus theory, we assumed that this relationship would be stronger when workers experienced an open future time perspective and a promotion focus rather than a prevention focus. The results showed that future time perspective indeed had a strengthening, and prevention focus a reducing moderating effect in the relationship between psychological contract breach and work motivation. However, no significant effects for promotion focus were found. These findings indicate that age-related processes such as future time perspective and regulatory focus are important variables to include in future psychological contract research.     

Knowledge modelling for contract disputes and change control

The construction industry involves many participants with different perspectives and requirements. Contracts can provide significant value, and yet ineffective contract management frequently leads to disputes. In practice, contracts are hardly reviewed, and contract management is limited. This study aims to investigate how firms can improve their internal processes relating to knowledge management (KM) through effective contract management to aid construction practitioners in managing contract disputes and changes. Using a questionnaire survey and a workshop involving experienced industry practitioners and researchers, the findings reveal that project- and individual-level implementation of KM processes is stronger than at the organizational level, and also there are substantial human resources (HR) practices that support contractual KM. Workshop participants believe efficient and effective KM can minimise losses from contract changes and disputes. A construction contract management process framework, a 19-step benchmarking model for contract management and a construction planning checklist for contractors are proposed.     

基于心理契约的基金经理激励机制分类设计

已有的基金经理激励机制研究多假定激励对象的心理和需求是同质的,忽视了对基金经理异质性特征的分析。这与实际的经济活动并不相符合。本文通过建立数学模型,将心理契约理论引入基金经理激励问题研究。结果表明,在信息对称条件下,即基金经理的不同心理需求能够被辨别时,应依据其心理契约类型,分类设计激励机制;在信息非对称条件下,即基金经理的不同心理需求无法被辨别时,应依据基金经理特征,如风险厌恶程度、工作成本、投资能力,及其所管理基金的风险大小和外部市场环境的变化方向,分类设计激励机制。并且,在多代理人环境下,基金经理间的合作程度也将对激励机制设计产生影响。本研究不仅是对已有基金经理激励机制研究的拓展与完善,使之更接近现实,也从心理契约视角为解决基金经理激励问题提供了新思路。     

寿险代理人心理契约结构的实证研究

员工心理契约的研究是组织行为学研究的热点之一,但目前还没有就寿险行业的寿险代理人这一特殊人群进行研究。通过对我国寿险代理人心理契约的结构及其内在关系进行实证研究,发现在寿险代理人心理契约结构中,组织责任有交易责任、保障责任、发展责任3个因子,员工责任主要有技能与协作、关心与参与、服从与忠诚3个因子,且代理人与管理者之间在各个分量表中均存在着认知差异。     

Job insecurity and work outcomes: The role of psychological contract breach and positive psychological capital

Job insecurity has received growing attention from researchers because it poses serious challenges for organisations and for society as a whole. However, there are insufficient studies about the processes through which job insecurity affects outcomes as well as potential ways to reduce its negative impact. This study focuses on the relationship between job insecurity and individual-level outcomes (in-role performance and organisational deviance) and examines if (a) job insecurity is positively and/or negatively related to work outcomes, (b) psychological contract breach acts as a mediator of the relationship between job insecurity and work outcomes, and (c) positive psychological capital (PsyCap) buffers the job insecurity–work outcomes relationship via psychological contract breach. With a sample of 362 employee–supervisor dyads, in which the outcome measures were collected from the supervisors, we found support for our hypotheses. Specifically, we found a moderated mediation effect, whereby PsyCap moderates the negative indirect relationship of job insecurity on outcomes through psychological contract breach.     

层级、态度和心理契约--基于一个中国企业的实证研究

日趋动态的环境需要企业在制定人力资源政策时更多地运用心理契约.心理契约有交易型心理契约和关系型心理契约之分.本文通过问卷调查和回归分析,研究不同类型的心理契约对企业中不同层级个体的态度如何产生影响的问题.本文发现,对于企业中高层级个体的态度改善,关系型心理契约能够起到更大的作用;而对于企业中低层级个体的态度改善,交易型心理契约能够起到更大的作用.本文还对本研究的应用前景和局限性进行了讨论.     

组织公正和心理契约违背对管理者行为的影响

整合了心理契约和组织公正领域的多元变量,对512位组织管理者进行问卷调查,检验了管理者对组织公正性的不同感受对组织心理契约违背与管理者EVNL行为关系的影响.发现,组织心理契约违背与组织程序公正、人际公正对管理者呼吁行为存在交互作用,组织心理契约违背与组织人际公正对管理者组织忠诚存在交互作用,而组织公正对组织心理契约违背与管理者消极行为(退出行为和忽略行为)没有关系.     

Organizational identification as a mediator for the effects of psychological contract breaches on organizational citizenship behavior: Insights from the perspective of ethnic minority employees

This study examines the contribution of the psychological contract (PC) framework to the understanding of ethnic minority employees’ employment relationships. First, it tests the generalizability of PC types (transactional, relational, and balanced) observed in the general population to ethnic minority employees. Then, to further address the unique needs and motivators of minority employees, this study considers diversity-related PCs. It adopts social exchange theory to explain how transactional, relational, balanced, and diversity-related PC breaches predict organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Moreover, it draws insights from social identity theory and examines the mediating role of organizational identification in the relationship between types of PC breach and OCB. Data from 361 Turkish employees working as ethnic minorities in Belgium indicate that relational and diversity-related PC breaches predict OCB partially via organizational identification while transactional and balanced PC breaches directly affect OCB.     

Constructing managerial manoeuvring space in contradictory contexts

This paper discusses manoeuvring space and demonstrates how autonomy, power and discretion need to be understood as constructed and integrated behaviours where managers manoeuvre between dilemmas in their own management practices. Twenty-seven Norwegian police managers were shadowed and interviewed. We found that constructions of manoeuvring space presupposed that managers balanced dilemmas. We identified three different strategies through which managers constructed manoeuvring space by navigating between dilemmas and actively constructing demands and constraints. These strategies were (1) decoupling, (2) sensegiving and (3) strategic positioning. Our findings add to the managerial discretion literature, arguing that constructions of manoeuvring space are central to managers’ development and to how they create opportunities and possibilities to make choices that balance conflicting dilemmas in contradictory contexts.     

Uncertainty, Contrariness and the Double-bind: Middle Managers' Reactions to Changing Contracts

This article describes the emerging changes in psychological contracts being experienced by British middle managers in relation to their employing organizations, the middle managers' negative reactions to these changes and organizational responses to such negativity. By analysing case studies of 16 organizations, a classification of changes to five elements of the psychological contract are identified: knowledge, motivation, goals and means, role behaviour and ethics. By analysing the semi-structured interviews of 37 middle managers, selected from a much larger database for their obvious negative reactions, a continuum of such reactions is considered: uncertainty, contrariness and double-bind. This consideration leads, then, to suggestions for further research.     

HR perceptions and the provision of workforce training in an AMT environment: An empirical study

Research literature indicates the importance of workforce development in the successful implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs). However, the relationship between advanced technologies and workforce training is assumed to be a direct one with limited consideration provided to factors that may influence it. This study examines the impacts of environment and human resource (HR) manager perceptions on the provision of workforce development activities. A human-centered technology philosophy is proposed as a conceptual framework for examining the role of HR manager perceptions to mediate the relationship between AMTs and workforce development. Results from hierarchical regressions indicate that the perceptions of HR managers regarding technology-driven workforce need to explain a large portion of the variance for both individual and process development activities. Findings support that the managerial role of assessing workforce developmental needs from basic AMTs places HR managerial perceptions at the focal point of social–technical systems. The role of environmental uncertainty is also examined as a moderator of managerial perceptions of technology-driven needs in an AMT environment. The results suggest that environmental uncertainty did not moderate the relationship between HR perceptions as a predictor of workforce development activities. This could imply that HR managers may not consider critical external environment issues when making decisions of workforce development activities. The implications of these findings for HR perceptions in an AMT environment are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Executive Information Systems: Recent Developments and Research Imperatives

SUMMARY The reluctance of top managers to use computers themselves has become almost legendary, although there are good reasons for their apparent preference for traditional information sources and access routes. Isolated cases have shown how computer-based executive support systems can be used by top managers when great care is taken by the system developers over data presentation and the user interface. Now, the advent of high quality commercial software means that Executive Information Systems (EIS) may become far more widespread. This paper describes the principal features of the new EIS from the executive users' point of view and indicates those characteristics which appear to be most conducive to success. Research directions which will identify the extent and impact of EIS software on top management are identified.     

Innere Kündigung als Thema in der Organisationsentwicklung

According to the theory of psychological contract employees are redressing the balance in the employment relationship when they perceive their employer has not fulfilled its obligations to the extent that it could. The psychological contract breach leads to reduction of commitment and willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviour. Factors which can lead to a psychological contract breach are leadership behaviour, career options, meaningfulness of work, participation and communication. Organizational development should focus on prevention of psychological contract breach—especially by specific leadership development programs.     

组织行为对管理者感知心理契约违背的影响

本研究运用512个中国管理者样本检验了组织沟通、组织公正和人力资源管理行为对管理者感知心理契约违背的影响。研究发现组织沟通对管理者感知心理契约违背不存在显著影响；直接上司沟通对管理者感知管理型心理契约违背存在负向影响。对关系型心理契约违背存在正向影响；程序公正对管理者感知管理型心理契约违背有负向影响,对管理型和交易型心理契约违背有正向影响；人际公正对管理者感知管理型和关系型心理契约违背有负向影响；人力资源管理实践对管理者感知心理契约违背有负向影响。     

Internal marketing: A new perspective for HRM

The authors argue that there are trends currently present in industry and management which require human resource (HR) managers to have much higher levels of competence and skills. Concepts and techniques from marketing can provide means by which HR managers can be more effective.It is also pointed out that Chief Executive Officers have failed to recognize the importance of HR managers in their organizations — a weakness for which HR managers must also carry some blame.     

Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals

Occupational choice frameworks suggest that personality factors influence person-job fit. This paper focuses on personality factors and career satisfactions of human resources (HR) managers. ‘Big Five’ and narrow personality traits as well as managerial style variables were drawn from an archive of 1846 HR managers and 1375 non-managers. Results indicated that HR managers differed from 51,297 individuals in other occupations and from non-managerial HR specialists on many of the study variables, most of which were also related to career satisfaction. Implications for differentiation selection and development of HR managers were discussed.     

关系契约治理与外包合作绩效——对日离岸软件外包项目的实证研究

对日离岸软件外包项目具有典型的关系契约特性,现有文献对软件外包中的关系契约治理及对合作绩效的影响还缺乏系统的理论分析和实证研究。信任、交流和相互适应调整作为重要的关系规范,在对日软件外包关系契约治理中具有重要意义。本研究根据访谈和110个项目的数据实证检验了关系规范对离岸软件外包项目绩效的影响。通过结构方程模型方法发现,交流的有效性对于项目质量和供应商成本控制绩效有积极影响,相互适应调整对于成本控制绩效也有积极影响。这个发现有助于构建有效的关系契约治理机制,促进软件外包产业发展。     

Contractors and their Psychological Contracts

It is commonly assumed that contractors are largely calculative, instrumental and self-interested in their relationship with organizations and interface with them accordingly (e.g. low corporate interest and emotional investment). This paper describes a survey involving 117 contractors (62 on 'permanent' agency contracts and 55 on 'temporary' agency contracts) and a comparable (age, job level/grade, years of work experience) group of 86 direct employees (on fixed-term contracts). The survey comprised measures of the psychological contract, of organizational identification, social (corporate) attraction, team spirit and intention to leave. The findings show that contractors are not inevitably 'emotionally' detached from their place of work, in some cases investing in it as much as direct company employees. While transactional (e.g. financial gain, instrumentality) exchange considerations were more salient among contractors than employees, this did not appear to preclude the development of a relational (e.g. corporate integration and long-term investment) contractual orientation. 'Team spirit' and 'organizational identification' predicted the development of relational contracts over and above contractual status. The findings and their management implications are discussed in terms of 'strategic partnership'.     

组织中的心理契约

拟对近年来西方组织行为和人力资源管理领域中兴起的组织中的心理契约问题研究 ,进行综述性的介绍 .内容有心理契约研究兴起的原因 ,心理契约的概念发展 ,心理契约的内容和心理契约对组织效果的影响     

Women and training: an empirical investigation in the Arab Middle East

Few studies have explored the professional training experiences of Arab women within the contexts of learning organisational cultures and relevant human resource development (HRD) practices. Capitalising on in-depth, face-to-face interviews, this study explores the experiences of women managers in Lebanon with professional training and organisational learning. The findings demonstrate the paucity of professional training and learning opportunities for women and illustrate how organisational discrimination and gender-biased cultures and tension influence women’s learning. To overcome these barriers and alleviate organisational tension, the Lebanese women managers capitalise on their agency and individual capacities to improve their training experiences and increase their access to learning opportunities. By virtue of individual agency and through their agentic process, the careerists shape their training and overall learning by being adaptive and developing structures of action that enable them to advance their learning. The results have important implications for HR managers and HRD scholars. They also extend our understanding of the importance, or lack thereof, of the learning culture within an organisation.