Psychological Contract

The psychological contract is a mutual exchange of beliefs between an individual and an organization (Rousseau, 1989). The psychological contract is undoubtedly an important aspect of the employment relationship because it invisibly links the employer and employee through a set of expectations. For the individual in an organization, the psychological contract is most relevant because it impacts directly on that person's satisfaction with motivation, commitment and morale levels. In addition, a favorable psychological contract helps to enhance employee creativity and performance (Rousseau, 2004). Therefore, in order to gain the commitment and loyalty of individual employees, organizations must have appropriate systems in place to facilitate the identification of employee expectations and the means to achieve them (Coyle-Shapiro el al. 2019). However, it is not easy to identify expectations, either on the part of the employer or the employee.



Breaches of psychological contract are defined as the inability of an organization to fulfill one or more obligations in the psychological contract. (Morrison & Robinson 1997). Workers rely on the psychological contract to guide their actions, then breaches of psychological contract occur when the employer fails to fulfill the expected commitments (Parzefall et al. 2011).



Employees feel insecure about their jobs and fail to receive tangible resources from their employers, indicating that the organization does not value the contributions of its employees (Shoss et al., 2016). management at D.A.T.E. cancels shifts at any time. XPO, a global logistics giant that operates distribution centers, states that workers are paid for every minute they work and are committed to ensuring a "first-class safe work environment." However, employees at D.A.T.E. claim they are not being paid for the extra hours they work. Employers do not trust their employees (El Bedoui et al., 2011). Security personnel sometimes require employees to drag their shoes for inspection or enter the restroom for a pat-down search. This security measure is invasive. In fact, breaches of psychological contract are not a discrete event; they are formed by the breaking of multiple promises over time (Parzefall et al., 2011).



Breaches of psychological contract have a negative impact on both the employee and the organization. Employees' trust in the organization decreases (Robinson 1996), making it difficult for them to cut back to their old patterns, so employees who have experienced one psychological contract breach are more likely to breach with their next employer (Robinson & Morrison 2000). A decrease in employee motivation to perform at work makes it less likely that the organization will receive contributions from employees and may even increase negative behaviors (e.g., strikes) to seek to balance inequalities in the relationship. Breaches of the psychological contract have an impact on employees' physical and mental health, and according to research findings (Garcia et al. 2017), employees' sleep problems, psychological anxiety, and other problems have been linked to breaches of the psychological contract.