Past psychological contract breach and intention to quit
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2019-11-18
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en
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This research examined the relationship between past psychological contract breach and intention to quit, the mediating effect of the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract and the moderating effect of age. The concept of psychological contracts is examined in a relatively new way in this research, namely by taking a future looking perspective. Based on existing theory, the following three hypotheses were formulated and tested in this research: (H1) past psychological contract breach is positively related to intention to quit, (H2) the relationship between past psychological contract breach and intention to quit is mediated by the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract and (H3) the relationship between past psychological contract breach and the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract is moderated by age, in a way that the relationship is stronger for younger employees. To test these hypotheses, two types of quantitative studies were conducted: a field study and a vignette study. The data obtained by both studies were analysed by using multiple regression analysis and PROCESS. Both studies showed that past psychological contract breach is positively related to intention to quit (H1). In addition, the first study showed that the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract partially mediates this relationship (H2) and the second study showed that the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract fully mediates this relationship (H2). Based on the first study, no evidence was found for the moderating effect of age on the relationship between past psychological contract breach and the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract (H3). The second study did found evidence for the moderating effect of age on the relationship between past psychological contract breach and the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract (H3). However, the moderating effect that was found was opposite from the hypothesized effect which means that the relationship between past psychological contract breach and the expectation of fulfilment of the anticipatory psychological contract is moderated by age, in a way that the relationship is stronger for older employees. In this research a tool for measuring the anticipatory psychological contract is created which should be further developed in future research. This research also showed that psychological contract research should take a future looking perspective by looking at forward-looking exchanges and the effect of these forward-looking exchanges on employee outcomes such as intention to quit.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen