The Moderating Role of Contract Replicability in Psychological Contract Research

Abstract

This study examines contract replicability, or the extent to which a psychological contract is believed to be replicable in other employment relationships, as a moderator of the relationship between psychological contract breach and various outcomes career satisfaction, task performance, citizenship behavior, and deviant workplace behavior. Empirical results based on 162 employees in Hong Kong showed that when psychological contracts were perceived to be non-replicable by other employers, breach of such a contract was more negatively associated with self-rated career satisfaction, peer-rated citizenship behavior (directed at the organization and at others), and more positively associated with peer-rated deviant workplace behavior compared to when contracts were perceived as highly replicable. Implications for future research on the psychological contract and managerial practice are also discussed.