In pursuit of impact: how psychological contract research can make the work-world a better place

This paper is the result of the collective work undertaken by a group of Psychological Contract (PC) and Sustainability scholars from around the world, following the 2023 Bi-Annual PC Small Group Conference (Kedge Business School, Bordeaux, France). As part of the conference, scholars engaged in a workshop designed to generate expert guidance on how to aid the PC field to be better aligned with the needs of practice, and thus, impact the creation and maintenance of high-quality and sustainable exchange processes at work. In accordance with accreditation bodies for higher education, research impact is not limited to academic papers alone but also includes practitioners, policymakers, and students in its scope. This paper therefore incorporates elements from an impact measurement tool for higher education in management so as to explore how PC scholars can bolster the beneficial influence of PC knowledge on employment relationships through different stakeholders and means. Accordingly, our proposals for the pursuit of PC impact are organized in three parts: (1) research, (2) practice and society, and (3) students. Further, this paper contributes to the emerging debate on sustainable PCs by developing a construct definition and integrating PCs with an ‘ethics of care’ perspective

In Pursuit of Impact: How Psychological Contract Research Can Make the Work-World a Better Place

This paper is the result of the collective work undertaken by a group of Psychological Contract (PC) and Sustainability scholars from around the world, following the 2023 Bi-Annual PC Small Group Conference (Kedge Business School, Bordeaux, France). As part of the conference, scholars engaged in a workshop designed to generate expert guidance on how to aid the PC field to be better aligned with the needs of practice, and thus, impact the creation and maintenance of high-quality and sustainable exchange processes at work. In accordance with accreditation bodies for higher education, research impact is not limited to academic papers alone but also includes practitioners, policymakers, and students in its scope. This paper therefore incorporates elements from an impact measurement tool for higher education in management so as to explore how PC scholars can bolster the beneficial influence of PC knowledge on employment relationships through different stakeholders and means. Accordingly, our proposals for the pursuit of PC impact are organized in three parts: (1) research, (2) practice and society, and (3) students. Further, this paper contributes to the emerging debate on sustainable PCs by developing a construct definition and integrating PCs with an ‘ethics of care’ perspective

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours: Unethical pro-organizational behavior and deviance in response to different psychological contract states

In this multi-study paper, we integrate Social Exchange Theory and the discretionary workplace behavior literature. Specifically, we posit that by breaching their psychological contract (PC) obligations, organizations may trigger negative reciprocity, which in turn may increase deviant behavior. Moreover, we posit that by fulfilling their legitimately PC obligations, organizations may trigger positive reciprocity, which in turn may increase unethical pro-organizational behavior. Across two studies (3-wave field study with traditional breach measure and 2-wave field study with expanded breach measure and polynomial regression), we found repeated evidence for our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that PC breach (Study 1) and PC under-fulfillment (Study 2) are positively related to the enactment of organizational deviance via negative reciprocity. Furthermore, we found that PC fulfillment (Study 1) and high absolute levels of PC fulfillment (Study 2) are positively related to unethical pro-organizational behavior via positive reciprocity. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours: Unethical pro-organizational behavior and deviance in response to different psychological contract states

In this multi-study paper, we integrate Social Exchange Theory and the discretionary workplace behavior literature. Specifically, we posit that by breaching their psychological contract (PC) obligations, organizations may trigger negative reciprocity, which in turn may increase deviant behavior. Moreover, we posit that by fulfilling their legitimately PC obligations, organizations may trigger positive reciprocity, which in turn may increase unethical pro-organizational behavior. Across two studies (3-wave field study with traditional breach measure and 2-wave field study with expanded breach measure and polynomial regression), we found repeated evidence for our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that PC breach (Study 1) and PC under-fulfillment (Study 2) are positively related to the enactment of organizational deviance via negative reciprocity. Furthermore, we found that PC fulfillment (Study 1) and high absolute levels of PC fulfillment (Study 2) are positively related to unethical pro-organizational behavior via positive reciprocity. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

Corruption and Private Participation Projects in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper investigates the role of host-country corruption in private participation projects in emerging markets. Privatization activities, especially in infrastructure development, were traditionally inaccessible to multinational enterprises, but they are nowadays encouraged in many countries. Prior literature on corruption finds two contradictory (“grease” and “sand”) results when examining the consequences of corruption on investments. Drawing on a sample of 1185 projects from 1997 to 2013 in 18 Central and Eastern European Countries, our results show that higher levels of host-country corruption are associated with greater probabilities of failure. Our results also show that including local investors in the ownership structure of the project weakens the negative effect of corruption by reducing the liability of foreignness. In contrast, being a publicly traded project has no moderating effect in the effect of corruption in this region. Therefore, our results highlight that not all common strategies to deal with corruption are equally effective in this region

Psychological Contracts: Back to the Future

The different contributions made to this edited book illustrate that the study of psychological contracts has offered critical scholarly and practical insights into the functional and dysfunctional aspects of the employment relationship for several decades. However, as with other fields of research, it behooves the psychological contract field to pause periodically, take stock, explore gaps, and identify new research streams to maintain and expand its impact upon scholarship and practice. An edited book like this offers a good opportunity to see how far we have come with the psychological contract and where the challenges lie ahead. In the chapter, the authors identify and develop three key areas that promise to enrich psychological contract research: 1) time; 2) social context; and 3) the changing nature of work. For each of these key areas, they formulate promising future research questions