What do we measure and how do we elicit it? The case for the use of repertory grid technique in multi-party psychological contract research

The psychological contract is a multi-faceted construct and, with the rise of gig work, increasingly the contract extends beyond the conventional employer-employee relationship to encompass multi-party exchanges. Against this backdrop, the question of what should be measured when assessing the contract and how it should be elicited remains a significant issue for scholars. We argue that the potential of psychological contract theory as an explanatory lens in understanding contemporary multi-party working relationships is constrained by two key limitations inherent in conventional measurement approaches. Firstly, such approaches have favoured singular rather than multiparty perspectives, and secondly, they have broadly accorded equal weight and significance to the content dimensions unearthed, despite the fact that they may differ markedly in how they are understood by each party to the employment relationship. In order to remedy these shortcomings, we make the case for adopting repertory grid technique as a methodological framework to address measurement limitations and to more rigorously assess the content of the complex multi-party psychological contract

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