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Although the psychological contract has been a popular topic in managerial research for the past twenty years, recent critiques of the research in this area point to several shortcomings. These are believed to result primarily from the overwhelming use of field studies, survey questionnaires, and other correlational procedures in the study of this construct. One particular research question that has generated mixed results involves the effect that one's underlying contract (either transactional or relational) has on individuals' perceptions of contract breach and feelings of violation following an employer's breach. This study sought to gain insight into this question by using an experimental study design to assess the impact that exchange congruence — or the match between the nature of the underlying contract and the nature of the breach — has on employees' perceptions of breach and feelings of violation. An experimental design was used and data was collected from 421 subjects in six treatment groups and two control groups. The treatment groups examined the effects of withdrawal breach (without resource substitutions) and both congruent and incongruent resource substitutions in transactional and relational work contexts. Also, two control groups in which no psychological breach was induced were examined. The results of the experiment differ for the transactional and relational treatments. No significant differences in perceptions of breach or violation were found with regard to the type of breach induced among the transactional treatments. Among the relational treatments, subjects that received incongruent resource substitutions perceived significantly higher levels of breach and violation than those that received congruent substitutions. Also, among the relational treatments, levels of perceived breach were significantly higher for the incongruent substitute treatment than for the withdrawal breach treatment. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that breach perceptions and feelings of violation vary for employees depending not only on the type of contract they hold, but the type of breach that they experience. In addition, the study demonstrated that an experimental design is applicable to this literature and that it could advance our understanding of the psychological contract in ways that are not possible with cross-sectional field studies. / Ph. D.

Globally competitive businesses have gone through a lot of change over the last few years, even decades. Organisations need to keep abreast with what is happening around them in order for them to reach their strategic targets. Over the past few years, many organisations realised that their most valuable assets are their employees and the knowledge that they possess. The main key to retaining employees is nested in a positive employment relationship. Current organisations, and more specifically mining organisations, are encountering great difficulty in maintaining a positive relationship with their employees; the numerous strikes bearing testimony to this. Some of these strikes lasted for long periods and one even ended in lives being lost. These days, many mining companies find themselves in escalating financial turmoil, due to human capital problems resulting in labour unrest and subsequent inoperativeness. Therefore, establishing and maintaining a positive employment relationship is of cardinal importance in recruiting and retaining quality employees who will give the organisation a competitive edge. One factor that contributes greatly to a positive employment relationship which is conducive towards promoting positive individual and organisational outcomes is the psychological contract. Fulfilment of the psychological contract where employers offer employees opportunities for personal growth, career advancement, and a supportive work environment will lead to employees experiencing job satisfaction, organisational citizenship behaviour and propensity to remain with the organisation. Violation of the psychological contract, however, will lead to discontent, resulting in increased turnover propensity. The way in which employees perceive their own employability might also have an effect on their decision whether or not to stay with the organisation that has violated their psychological contracts. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the psychological contract and employability in a mining organisation and to determine the outcomes thereof. A quantitative approach was used to gather data. The questionnaires were distributed to employees (N = 205) across all levels within a mining organisation. The measuring instruments used were the Psychological Contract Inventory, Violations of Psychological Contract Questionnaire, Employability Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale and Turnover Intention Scale. Results in Article 1 (Chapter 2) showed that job satisfaction displayed a strong, positive relationship with psychological contract fulfilment and with organisational citizenship behaviour. Job dissatisfaction impacted turnover intention negatively. Furthermore, psychological contract fulfilment had an indirect positive impact on low turnover intention and organisational citizenship behaviour via job satisfaction. Article 2 (Chapter 3) showed that external employability displayed a strong, positive relationship with internal employability; whereas psychological contract violation had a significant positive relationship with turnover intention. It was further found that external employability moderated the relationship between psychological contract violation and turnover intention. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Globally competitive businesses have gone through a lot of change over the last few years, even decades. Organisations need to keep abreast with what is happening around them in order for them to reach their strategic targets. Over the past few years, many organisations realised that their most valuable assets are their employees and the knowledge that they possess. The main key to retaining employees is nested in a positive employment relationship. Current organisations, and more specifically mining organisations, are encountering great difficulty in maintaining a positive relationship with their employees; the numerous strikes bearing testimony to this. Some of these strikes lasted for long periods and one even ended in lives being lost. These days, many mining companies find themselves in escalating financial turmoil, due to human capital problems resulting in labour unrest and subsequent inoperativeness. Therefore, establishing and maintaining a positive employment relationship is of cardinal importance in recruiting and retaining quality employees who will give the organisation a competitive edge. One factor that contributes greatly to a positive employment relationship which is conducive towards promoting positive individual and organisational outcomes is the psychological contract. Fulfilment of the psychological contract where employers offer employees opportunities for personal growth, career advancement, and a supportive work environment will lead to employees experiencing job satisfaction, organisational citizenship behaviour and propensity to remain with the organisation. Violation of the psychological contract, however, will lead to discontent, resulting in increased turnover propensity. The way in which employees perceive their own employability might also have an effect on their decision whether or not to stay with the organisation that has violated their psychological contracts. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the psychological contract and employability in a mining organisation and to determine the outcomes thereof. A quantitative approach was used to gather data. The questionnaires were distributed to employees (N = 205) across all levels within a mining organisation. The measuring instruments used were the Psychological Contract Inventory, Violations of Psychological Contract Questionnaire, Employability Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale and Turnover Intention Scale. Results in Article 1 (Chapter 2) showed that job satisfaction displayed a strong, positive relationship with psychological contract fulfilment and with organisational citizenship behaviour. Job dissatisfaction impacted turnover intention negatively. Furthermore, psychological contract fulfilment had an indirect positive impact on low turnover intention and organisational citizenship behaviour via job satisfaction. Article 2 (Chapter 3) showed that external employability displayed a strong, positive relationship with internal employability; whereas psychological contract violation had a significant positive relationship with turnover intention. It was further found that external employability moderated the relationship between psychological contract violation and turnover intention. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Every society has jobs that need to be done in order to survive and to improve its members’ subjective well-being. Work is an important source of individuals’ subjective well-being. Employees within higher education institutions face a complex environment and play an important role in the reconstruction and development in South Africa. Employees are experiencing more challenges in the workplace than ever before. They spend more time at work and because they have less leisure time, they have fewer opportunities of seeking meaning in their lives. These factors have an impact on the well-being and happiness of employees in higher education institutions. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between employees’ work experience, type of contract and work outcomes of employees at a higher education institution. A cross-sectional survey design was used with 483 employees at a higher education institution and a response rate of 62% (N = 300) was obtained. The measuring instruments used in this study included the Psychological Contract Across Nations (PSYCONES), Employment Contract Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Mental Health Continuum - Short Form and Intention to Quit Scale. Exploratory factor analyses and Cronbach alpha coefficients were computed to determine the construct validity and reliability of the measures. Pearson correlation coefficients, multivariate analysis of variance, one-way analysis of variance and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the constructs in this study. Bootstrap-estimated confidence intervals were used to assess the significance of indirect effects. The results of study 1 confirmed the validity and reliability of measures (except for the social contract). Age, tenure and gender had statistically significant effects on the fulfilment of one dimension of the psychological contract, namely work conditions. Younger people with less tenure experienced more fulfilment of the psychological contract (regarding work conditions). Tenure also impacted psychological contract violation. Type of contract (permanent versus temporary) impacted the fulfilment of the psychological contract (specifically work conditions). Males (compared to females) experienced more fulfilment of the psychological contract (regarding work conditions) and less violation of the psychological contract. Tenure and type of contract were also related to experiences of the employment contract. The results of study 2 showed that psychological contract violation, job dissatisfaction and lack of flourishing directly impacted turnover intention. Lack of psychological contract fulfilment indirectly impacted job dissatisfaction and languishing via psychological contract violation. The employment contract did not have a statistically significant effect on job satisfaction, flourishing and turnover intention of employees in a higher education institution. Psychological contract violation indirectly impacted turnover intention via job dissatisfaction and languishing of employees. The results of this study confirmed the important role of fulfilment of the psychological contract and non-violation of the psychological contract regarding job satisfaction, flourishing and retention of employees in a higher education institution. Recommendations were made for future research. / MCom, Labour Relations Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

The rapid change within the South African workplace and competitiveness of organisations required employed and unemployed individuals to be trained and retrained as a large number of the South African population is unskilled. In the chemical industry employability of individuals is of extra ordinarily importance to both employer and individual. One of the main focuses of the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) is to enable learners through the promotion of employability to enter into learnerships to develop the necessary skills to develop sustainable livelihoods (CHIETA, 2011). There are high expectations of the learnerships system which was implemented during 2001 in South Africa. This system is set as a key strategic component of the National Skills Development Strategy, 2011-2016. Learnership programmes are implemented in South African organisations which is a great platform for employee development. Employees are afforded the opportunity to broaden their knowledge in the studied field and gain the needed skills within the organisation (Department of Labour, 1997). Learnerships are seen as a demand driven formal labour market tool, to address the existing need for critical, scarce - high and intermediate - skills levels. Simultaneously, it is seen as an employment-creation mechanism at the low and intermediate skills levels. This statement is a fundamental principle of a survey done on learnerships (Smith, Jennings, & Solanki, 2005). Researchers concluded that learnership programmes are the ideal for employees to acquire the needed skills to become competent and to provide jobs for the unemployed and in this manner enhance employability (Smith et al., 2005). The main aim of article one was to determine the differences in the levels of the psychological contracts, violation of the psychological contract, learners‟ expectations, employability, life satisfaction and work engagement between individual variables (type of learnership contracts, gender, race, age, date of commencement of learnership, date of completion of learnership). A cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of 237 learners completed the questionnaire. The psychological contract scale, violation of the psychological contract scale, learners‟ expectations scale, employability scale, life satisfaction scale, work engagement scale and biographical scale were administered. The results indicated that a statistically significant difference was obtained for age, date of commencement of learnership and date of completion of learnership, but no relationship exists with type of learnership contract, gender and race. The aim of the second article was to determine the relationship between learners within learnership psychological contract, state of the psychological contract, expectations and violations of psychological contract, employability, work engagement and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the study strives to determine whether violation of the psychological contract, learners‟ expectations and employability could predict life satisfaction of learners. A practically significant relationship with a medium effect exists between violation of the psychological contract, state of psychological contract (negative), and employability (positive). A positive practically significant relationship exists between state of psychological contract and work engagement. No relationship was found between employability, life satisfaction and work engagement. A positive practically significant relationship with a medium effect exists between life satisfaction and work engagement. Employer obligations and employability predict life satisfaction. The state of the psychological contract (trust) and life satisfaction predict work engagement of learners. / MA (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Every society has jobs that need to be done in order to survive and to improve its members’ subjective well-being. Work is an important source of individuals’ subjective well-being. Employees within higher education institutions face a complex environment and play an important role in the reconstruction and development in South Africa. Employees are experiencing more challenges in the workplace than ever before. They spend more time at work and because they have less leisure time, they have fewer opportunities of seeking meaning in their lives. These factors have an impact on the well-being and happiness of employees in higher education institutions. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between employees’ work experience, type of contract and work outcomes of employees at a higher education institution. A cross-sectional survey design was used with 483 employees at a higher education institution and a response rate of 62% (N = 300) was obtained. The measuring instruments used in this study included the Psychological Contract Across Nations (PSYCONES), Employment Contract Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Mental Health Continuum - Short Form and Intention to Quit Scale. Exploratory factor analyses and Cronbach alpha coefficients were computed to determine the construct validity and reliability of the measures. Pearson correlation coefficients, multivariate analysis of variance, one-way analysis of variance and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the constructs in this study. Bootstrap-estimated confidence intervals were used to assess the significance of indirect effects. The results of study 1 confirmed the validity and reliability of measures (except for the social contract). Age, tenure and gender had statistically significant effects on the fulfilment of one dimension of the psychological contract, namely work conditions. Younger people with less tenure experienced more fulfilment of the psychological contract (regarding work conditions). Tenure also impacted psychological contract violation. Type of contract (permanent versus temporary) impacted the fulfilment of the psychological contract (specifically work conditions). Males (compared to females) experienced more fulfilment of the psychological contract (regarding work conditions) and less violation of the psychological contract. Tenure and type of contract were also related to experiences of the employment contract. The results of study 2 showed that psychological contract violation, job dissatisfaction and lack of flourishing directly impacted turnover intention. Lack of psychological contract fulfilment indirectly impacted job dissatisfaction and languishing via psychological contract violation. The employment contract did not have a statistically significant effect on job satisfaction, flourishing and turnover intention of employees in a higher education institution. Psychological contract violation indirectly impacted turnover intention via job dissatisfaction and languishing of employees. The results of this study confirmed the important role of fulfilment of the psychological contract and non-violation of the psychological contract regarding job satisfaction, flourishing and retention of employees in a higher education institution. Recommendations were made for future research. / MCom, Labour Relations Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

The rapid change within the South African workplace and competitiveness of organisations required employed and unemployed individuals to be trained and retrained as a large number of the South African population is unskilled. In the chemical industry employability of individuals is of extra ordinarily importance to both employer and individual. One of the main focuses of the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) is to enable learners through the promotion of employability to enter into learnerships to develop the necessary skills to develop sustainable livelihoods (CHIETA, 2011). There are high expectations of the learnerships system which was implemented during 2001 in South Africa. This system is set as a key strategic component of the National Skills Development Strategy, 2011-2016. Learnership programmes are implemented in South African organisations which is a great platform for employee development. Employees are afforded the opportunity to broaden their knowledge in the studied field and gain the needed skills within the organisation (Department of Labour, 1997). Learnerships are seen as a demand driven formal labour market tool, to address the existing need for critical, scarce - high and intermediate - skills levels. Simultaneously, it is seen as an employment-creation mechanism at the low and intermediate skills levels. This statement is a fundamental principle of a survey done on learnerships (Smith, Jennings, & Solanki, 2005). Researchers concluded that learnership programmes are the ideal for employees to acquire the needed skills to become competent and to provide jobs for the unemployed and in this manner enhance employability (Smith et al., 2005). The main aim of article one was to determine the differences in the levels of the psychological contracts, violation of the psychological contract, learners‟ expectations, employability, life satisfaction and work engagement between individual variables (type of learnership contracts, gender, race, age, date of commencement of learnership, date of completion of learnership). A cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of 237 learners completed the questionnaire. The psychological contract scale, violation of the psychological contract scale, learners‟ expectations scale, employability scale, life satisfaction scale, work engagement scale and biographical scale were administered. The results indicated that a statistically significant difference was obtained for age, date of commencement of learnership and date of completion of learnership, but no relationship exists with type of learnership contract, gender and race. The aim of the second article was to determine the relationship between learners within learnership psychological contract, state of the psychological contract, expectations and violations of psychological contract, employability, work engagement and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the study strives to determine whether violation of the psychological contract, learners‟ expectations and employability could predict life satisfaction of learners. A practically significant relationship with a medium effect exists between violation of the psychological contract, state of psychological contract (negative), and employability (positive). A positive practically significant relationship exists between state of psychological contract and work engagement. No relationship was found between employability, life satisfaction and work engagement. A positive practically significant relationship with a medium effect exists between life satisfaction and work engagement. Employer obligations and employability predict life satisfaction. The state of the psychological contract (trust) and life satisfaction predict work engagement of learners. / MA (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

本研究旨在探究國民中學教職人員之心理契約內容與架構。具體而言，本研究目的有： 一、探討國民中學組織的心理契約內容； 二、探析國民中學人員的心理契約內容； 三、比較組織心理契約與人員心理契約之異同； 四、分析不同人口與環境變項在心理契約內容上的差異。 五、根據研究結果，提出結論與建議，以提供學校機關和學校領導人對學 校經營管理與人力運用之參考，並盼對學術界提出意見，以供後續 研究探討之用。 研究採用文獻探討法和問卷調查法。實徵研究部分以全國708所公立國民中學的教職人員為對象，共抽取80所學校，820教職人員為受試者進行調查，並使用自編之「國民中學教職人員之心理契約量表」進行施測，計回收有效問卷為617份。所得資料以SPSS/PC13.0統計套裝軟體進行述性統計、t考驗、單因子變異數（ANOVA）分析並以LISREL8.5進行潛在因素驗證，再對各項分析進行討論與解釋，所得主要結論如下： 一、國民中學教職人員之心理契約分為組織心理契約和人員心理契約兩 類。 二、組織心理契約有四條共二十款內容，第一條「體恤教職部屬」、第二 條「形塑組織願景」、第三條「提供環境支援」、第四條「建立人情 關懷」。人員心理契約有三條共二十四款內容，第五條「維護教育專 業」、第六條「促進組織興革」、第七條「認同組織發展」。 二、組織認為最重要的組織心理契約條款為第三條「提供環境支援」、人 員認為最重要的人員心理契約條款為第五條「維護教育專業」。 三、組織組明顯在第二條「形塑組織願景」、第四條「建立人情關懷」、 第五條「維護教育專業」、第六條「促進組織興革」、第七條「認同 組織發展」高於人員組，顯示組織和人員對心理契約的看法有很大的 差異。 四、職務愈高者和學校職員在教職人員心理契約的看法上明顯高於其他職 務的教職人員。 五、本校年資愈久者在教職人員心理契約的看法上明顯高於本校年資淺的 教職人員。 六、在他校（單位）工作經驗愈久者在教職人員心理契約的看法上明顯高 於沒有他校（單位）工作經驗或其他學校（單位）工作經驗淺的教職 人員。 七、男性教職人員對心理契約的看法上在第四條「建立人情關懷」和第七 條「認同組織發展」明顯高於女性教職人員。 八、研究所以上教育程度者在教職人員心理契約的看法上明顯高於大學以 下教育度的教職人員。 九、東部及離島地區的教職人員在心理契約的看法上明顯高於北部地區的 教職人員。 另本研究根據研究結果提出數點建議以供參考。 / This study use two kinds of research methods, one is literature review another is survey method. The survey instrument is called 「The questionnaire on psychological contract of teaching staff in junior high schools」. The survey samples are 820 teaching staffs from 80 junior high schools in Taiwan, R.O.C. There is 617 effective responses were analyzed by statistics、 t-test and one-way ANOVA using SPSS/PC13.0 program. Additionally, the potential factors were verified using LISREL8.5 program. The conclusions obtained from this study are summarized as follows: 1.The psychological contract of teaching staff in junior high schools can be divided into the organization and the staff two parts. 2.The psychological contract of organization includes four items: 「Be considerate of the staff」、「Bring up the organization’s envision」、「Provide a supportive environment」 and 「Establish humanity caring」. The psychological contract of staff includes three items: 「Enhance the expertise of education」、「Promote the evolution of the organization」 and 「Recognize the development of the organization」. 3.「Provide a supportive environment」is the most item for the psychological contract of organization. 「Enhance the expertise of education」is the most item for the psychological contract of staff. 4.There are obviously differences between the organizations and staffs in 「Bring up the organization’s envision」、 「Establish humanity caring」、「Enhance the expertise of education」、「Promote the evolution of the organization」 and 「Recognize the development of the organization」. 5.There are obviously differences between the administrators and teachers in junior high school. 6.There are obviously differences between the seniority staffs and the junior staffs. 7.There are obviously differences between the staffs with more experiences in other school and the staffs with less or no experiences in other school. 8.There are obviously differences between the male staffs and the female staffs in 「Establish humanity caring」 and 「Recognize the development of the organization」. 9.There are obviously differences between the staffs with Master or above Master and the staffs with Bachelor or below Bachelor. 10.There are obviously differences between the staffs locate in the eastern of island / offshore island and in northern of island. Finally, based on the conclusions of this study, here come some suggestions for future studies.

Le secteur de la santé connaît depuis plusieurs décennies une transformation continue qui contribue à la perte de repères des soignants et qui affecte leur relation d’emploi. La thèse examine cette dernière au travers du concept de contrat psychologique. S’inscrivant dans les voies de recherche suggérées par la littérature qui soulignent la focalisation des travaux sur les conséquences de la rupture et de la violation de contrat psychologique au détriment de sa formation et de sa dynamique, ce travail doctoral propose d’apporter une contribution sur ces aspects moins étudiés par le biais d’une approche qualitative longitudinale. Ainsi, nous avons réalisé une étude de cas, sur une période d’une année, auprès d’une cohorte de 40 infirmiers venant d’être diplômés et ayant été recrutés dans 18 établissements sanitaires répartis sur le territoire français. La réciprocité du contrat est également étudiée du point de vue des représentants de la direction. Les données issues des 219 entretiens réalisés ont été complétées par des observations et une analyse documentaire. Sur le plan théorique, la démarche adoptée permet de comprendre la dynamique du contrat psychologique et d’en proposer une modélisation, de sa formation anticipée, lors des études infirmières, jusqu’à sa stabilisation après une année d’activité professionnelle dans un service de soins. Sur le plan managérial, ce travail élabore des pistes de réflexion pour la construction d’une relation d’emploi durable et satisfaisante entre structure hospitalière et membres soignants. / The health sector has experienced many changes over the last decades which entails a loss of caregivers’ bearings affecting their employment relationship. This thesis is placed along the avenues of research suggested by the literature which highlight the focus put on the consequences of the breach and violation of the psychological contract, neglecting its construction and dynamics. This doctoral work is intended to be a contribution to these less studied aspects through a longitudinal qualitative approach. A year-long case study was carried out with a cohort of 40 newly-graduated nurses who were recruited in 18 French health facilities nationally. The reciprocity of the contract is also considered from the perspective of the management representatives. The data resulting from 219 interviews conducted were complemented with observations and documentary analysis. On the theoretical level, the approach adopted enables the dynamics of the psychological contract to be understood and a model to be proposed; from the anticipated creation, during nursing studies, up to a stabilized phase after a year of professional activity in a care service. On the managerial level, this work suggests possible reasoning for the construction of a sustainable and satisfying employment relationship between the hospital structure and caregivers.