Promised and Delivered Inducements and Contributions: An Integrated View of Psychological Contract Appraisal

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lambert, Lisa Schurer
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia State University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0021692
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 695-712
• 关键词: psychological contract theory; social exchange theory; EQUITY THEORY; employment relationships; job attitudes

摘要

The reciprocal exchange of employees' work for pay that is central to employment relationships is viewed here through the lens of the psychological contract. A psychological contract involves promised inducements, promised contributions, delivered inducements, and delivered contributions: How an employee cognitively integrates these 4 elements is a central question in psychological contract theory. Three alternative approaches for integrating the 4 elements were drawn from discrepancy theory, from equity theory, and from need theories of satisfaction, respectively. Experimental findings disconfirmed the discrepancy and equity approaches. Findings were consistent with the premise of the needs model, which is that appraisal is driven by how psychological contract elements facilitate or hinder an employee's effort to fulfill personal needs. Results showed that promised and delivered pay and work contribute uniquely to appraisal but that they vary in their influence on appraisal. These findings were consistent with the needs model principle that elements proximal to need satisfaction matter more than distal elements. That is, what is delivered (for pay and for work) matters more than what is promised, and pay matters more than work.