An interactionist perspective on employee performance as a response to psychological contract breach

–The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inter-relationships among the closely related exchange-based constructs such as psychological contract (PC) breach, perceived organisational support (POS), and exchange ideology. The authors examine the effects of three-way interaction of them on employee performance.

This study theoretically builds on a personality trait-based interactionist model of performance (Tett and Burnett, 2003) and empirically tests the model using multi-source data collected from employee-manager dyads in a non-profit organisation. Hierarchical linear modelling was employed for analysis.

The results indicate a significant three-way interaction, such that, the negative relationship between PC breach and task performance is the strongest when employees with a high exchange ideology perceive low levels of POS.

These findings suggest that organisations should ensure employees feel supported and pay special attention to employees with a high exchange ideology to minimise the harmful consequences of PC breach

The study provides new theoretical insights to PC literature by integrating the interactionist approach, cognitive psychology, and exchange ideology research. It highlights the importance of simultaneously examining both a situational and an individual variable in predicting employee performance after PC breach