Explorations of Time in Employees’ Perceptions of Antecedents and Outcomes in Human Resources Management and Psychological Contracts
Felix Anker Klein
Department of Psychology University of Oslo
2021
© Felix Anker Klein, 2021
Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo No. 849
ISSN 1564-3991
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission.
Cover: Hanne Baadsgaard Utigard.
Print production: Reprosentralen, University of Oslo.
2 Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Summary
List of publications 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Theory
2.1 Role of Time
2.2 Social Exchange Theory
2.2. Conservation of Resources Theory 2.3 Events Systems Theory
2.4 How Social Exchange Theory, Conservation of Resources Theory, and Events Systems Theory are Related
2.5 Employee Outcomes: Work Engagement, Turnover Intentions, and Time 2.6 Human Resource Management and Time
2.6.1 Opportunities for Development and Employee Outcomes: A Social Exchange Perspective
2.7 Psychological Contracts and Evaluations of Fulfillment Over Time
2.7.1 Relational Psychological Contracts and Evaluations of Fulfillment
2.7.2 Psychological Contract Fulfillment and the Influence of Leaders and Work- related Events: A Conservation of Resources Perspective
2.8 Theoretical Model and Research Aims 3.0 Methods
3
3.1 Research Project and Overall Research Design 3.2 Data Collection Procedure, Sample, and Attrition 3.3 Measurement
3.3.2 Scale Translations 3.3.3 Scale Centering 3.4 Statistical Analyses
3.4.1 Longitudinal Multi-level Growth Model
3.4.1.1 Longitudinal Multi-level Mediation Model 3.4.1.2 Longitudinal Multi-level Moderation Model
3.4.2 K-centers Functional Clustering Analysis
4.0 Results Research Paper 1 Research Paper 2 Research Paper 3
5.0 Discussion of Findings
5.1 Main Findings and Implications for Theory 5.2 Implications for Practitioners
5.3 Strengths and Limitations
5.3.1 Strengths and Limitations of Paper 1 5.3.2 Strengths and Limitations of Paper 2 5.3.3 Strengths and Limitations of Paper 3 5.4 Future Research
4 6.0 Conclusions
7.0 References 8.0 Papers 1, 2, and 3
5 Acknowledgements
“Standing on the shoulders of giants” is a metaphor by Bernard of Chartres that entails the process of discovering the truth by building on previous discoveries. The process of this research project fit this metaphor because the idea of studying antecedents and outcomes in organizational sciences over time is based on prior discoveries that used only one wave of data.
Isaac Newton used the same metaphor in 1675 to describe his own journey towards discovering the truth in science with the help of his peers. My own five-year-long journey working with this research project would never have ended without my standing on the tall shoulders of my supervisor and co-authors.
First, I stood on the shoulders of Professor Sabine Raeder, who was my supervisor throughout this period. She has been an invaluable resource through thick and thin, and I have to thank her first for her enormous effort in helping me.
Second, I stood on the shoulders of Associate Professor Knut Inge Fostervold, who played an excellent neutral part on the side. At times when I could not understand how to progress with the advice from my supervisor and my co-authors, Knut Inge helped me see new ways that I could progress.
Third, I also stood on the shoulders of Associate Professor Jos Akkermans, who is the head of the School of Business and Economics at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Jos made it possible for me to visit his department twice over a 12-month period. Working at the department in Amsterdam taught me much about the publishing process, and I received a lot of important feedback regarding my plans and research. I enjoyed taking part in activities at the VU.
6 Fourth, I stood on the shoulders of Assistant Professor Omar Solinger, Assistant Professor Joeri Hofmans, and Assistant Professor Jeroen de Jong, who all contributed greatly to my own process of learning research.
Apart from the above-stated peoples’ shoulders, there is one pair of shoulders that has been especially invaluable throughout the last four years, and also many years before: those of Karen Sofie Foss. During all of my progress and challenges, I was so lucky to be able to discuss them with you before I made my decisions. Thank you also to my nearest friends and family, who stood strong and supported me throughout this period. I will not work as much in the future as I have done the last years. Time is expensive, and doing a PhD makes you miss out on other important things in life, like being with Albatros, which is my sailing boat, and partying on the weekends.
7 Summary
Background:
Scholarship within human resource management has for many years explored different antecedents and employee outcomes using cross-sectional research designs. Meta-analytic evidence based on cross-sectional studies has concluded that providing employees human resource practices is important because it stimulates employees' work-related motivation and reduces turnover intentions (Jiang, Lepak, Hu, & Baer, 2012). The employees' response of reciprocating motivation and lowering turnover intentions from receiving human resource management resources reflects a social exchange process (Blau, 1964). However, with a cross- sectional research design, such a process cannot be shown empirically (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010). With only one wave of data, one can only assume that the studied relationships are stable over time, and one cannot show when these relationships change, nor how they change over time (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). The goal of this thesis is to further our understanding of antecedents and outcomes within the scholarship of human resource management by exploring the role of time.
Scholarship on psychological contracts has explored many antecedents and outcomes to employees’ experiences with their psychological contracts, and has also used cross-sectional designs. Meta-analytic evidence has concluded that under-fulfillment of the psychological contracts is related to low levels of work-related motivation and high levels of turnover intentions (Zhao, Wayne, Glibkowski, & Bravo, 2007). While much theory within the field of psychological contracts argues that the employment relationship can remain stable but also change over time (Rousseau, 1989; Rousseau, Hansen, & Tomprou, 2018), these theoretical claims have still not been properly tested because most studies have used cross-sectional
8 research designs. Therefore, more longitudinal research is needed to understand how employees' perceptions of human resource management and psychological contracts develop and what the consequences are for the employees over time.
Objectives:
The main objective of this thesis was to build theory regarding employees’ perceptions of their human resource management practices and their psychological contracts, focusing on longitudinal relationships in the study of resources, work-related events and employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment. The study included to examine longitudinal hypotheses and research questions which reflect on stability and changes in the relationships between resources, work-related events and the employee outcomes and psychological contract
fulfillment. There was also an overall aim to gain information about the time lag and duration of the studied relationships (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). In the first paper, the aim was to examine the impact of stable and changing levels of opportunities for development on intentions to stay.
These were measured indirectly through work engagement in the context of social exchange theory (Blau, 1964). In the second paper, the aim was to examine stable and changing levels of relational psychological contract obligations and the effects on evaluations of fulfillment using empowering leadership as a moderator in the context of conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 2001). In the third paper, the overall aim was to explore sub-groups of psychological contract fulfillment trajectories and their relatedness with different frequencies of events, work engagement, and turnover intentions. These explorations had the aim to build on the dynamic phase model (Rousseau et al., 2018) in the context of events systems theory (Morgeson, Mitchell, & Liu, 2015) and conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 2001).
9 Methods:
The study objectives of this thesis were mainly examined with two different statistical methods and employees' perceptions of all study variables consisting of monthly data throughout one year (12 waves). In Study 1 and Study 2, a multi-level growth model was fitted to examine the relationships in a mediation model and a moderation model respectively. In Study 3, a functional clustering analysis was used that could analyze and distribute complex non-linear trajectories into homogenous subgroups. Trajectories of fulfillment were later related to different frequencies of work-related events using Mann-Whitney tests, while the relationship between fulfillment, events, work engagement, and turnover intentions was explored with bi-variate correlations tests.
Results:
Several longitudinal results was found which showed how employees experience both stability and change regarding their resources, work-related events in relationship with employee outcomes and psychological contract over time. Paper 1 showed that employees’ perceptions of high and stable levels of opportunities for development predicted high levels of intentions to stay indirectly through work engagement throughout the year. In addition, a positive change in
opportunities for development lead to a positive change in work engagement, but this effect diminished a few months later. Paper 2 showed that stable and high levels of relational employer obligations, as perceived by the employees, predicted high levels of psychological contract fulfillment throughout the year. Empowering leadership behaviors and resources moderated the relationship between relational obligations and fulfillment in two different ways. First, when employees have stable and high relational employer obligations and are accompanied by stable and highly empowering leadership resources, the employees experience higher levels of
10 fulfillment. Second, when relational employer obligations increase and are not accompanied by empowering leadership resources that also increase, then employees experience lower
fulfillment. In Paper 3, there was one group of employees that experienced high levels of psychological contract fulfillment that was either stable or fluctuated over time. There was also one group of employees that experienced moderate levels of fulfillment that developed either in a stable way or increased or decreased over time. The former group, which experienced high levels of fulfillment, also experienced several disrupting events. In contrast, the latter group, which experienced moderate levels of fulfillment, experienced an even higher frequency of disrupting events. During periods of three to four months throughout the year, the level and development of psychological contract fulfillment were significantly related to promotions/starting a new job, new leaders, and organizational change events that occurred. Finally, there was also empirical evidence that showed that positive increases in psychological contract fulfillment over time were related to high levels of work engagement and lower levels of turnover intentions.
Conclusions:
This thesis and the three papers built longitudinal theory which all together showed relatedness between resources, work-related events and employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment over time. The thesis found evidence of stable and changing processes more over, and also that the studied relationships varied in their durations, over the full year, but also in shorter periods of three to four months. Thus, this study contribute with new knowledge to the field of human resource management and psychological contracts, in the context of social exchange theory, conservation of resources theory, and also event systems theory. From paper 1 it was concluded regarding a stable social exchange process underlying the positive relationships between opportunities for development and intentions to stay, indirectly through work
11 engagement. Also, a changing social exchange process was found when opportunities for
development increase causing higher work engagement the next month, which diminished a few months later. From paper 2 it was concluded about resource gains and loss processes, underlying the stable and positive relationship between relational obligations and psychological contract fulfillment, moderated positively by empowering leadership. Also, when relational obligations increase, but is not accompanied with similar change in the level of empowering leadership, then psychological contract fulfillment decreased the next months, suggesting resource losses. Paper 3 concluded that level of psychological contract fulfillment reflect an employees’ level of
resources, which become lower as the frequency of events become higher. To experience
moderate levels of fulfillment was associated with more events in total, more leader changes, and more organizational changes, which suggest resource loss processes. Single work-related events, such as promotions, leadership change, and organizational change, and also work engagement and turnover intentions was related to different levels of psychological contract fulfillment. The findings from paper 3 suggest in general that resource gains and loss processes over time, and inform the dynamic phase model in the context of event systems theory and conservation of resources theory. Practitioners are encouraged to provide resources towards employees and if possible, and not initiate too high frequencies of events over the course of one year, if possible.
Also, we encourage practitioners to pay close attention to the changing nature of the employer obligations of the employees and provide resources that are relevant for them in order to achieve their work goals. Lastly, we encourage practitioners to plan carefully resources during periods of events, because, these may become challenging for employees who will need more resources, especially when many events occur over time. Future research is encouraged to continue
12 exploring longitudinal phenomena at work, and also to include a third firm level to learn more about individual differences among employees who belong to different types of organizations.
13 List of publications
This thesis combines the three following articles.
Paper 1:
Klein, F. A., & Raeder, S. (2018). Examining the Dynamic Mediating Mechanisms Between Opportunities for Development and Employee outcomes Over Time: A One-Year Longitudinal Study. University of Oslo. Oslo, Norway.
Submitted to Personell Review.
Paper 2:
Klein, F. A., Akkermans, J., De Jong, J., & Raeder, S. (2019). Exploring the Dynamics of Relational Psychological Contract Obligations and Fulfillment: A Longitudinal Study of the Moderating Effects of Empowering Leadership. University of Oslo. Oslo, Norway.
Submitted to Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Making Processes.
Paper 3:
Klein, F. A., Akkermans, J., Solinger, O. N., & Hofmans, J. (2018). The Dynamics of Psychological Contract Fulfilment: A Functional Clustering Approach. University of Oslo. Oslo, Norway.
Submitted to Journal of Applied Psychology.
14 1.0 Introduction
Modern organizations are often characterized as continuously changing, less predictable, and more complex than in the past due to factors that stem from increased global competition, rapid technological improvement, and innovation (Schein, 2015). Many different types of work- related events (such as starting a new job, being promoted, being assigned a new leader, and experiencing organizational change events) may also occur that change the circumstances at work and demand many resources in order for the organization and the employees to adapt (Morgeson et al., 2015). Thus, in the current context of work, organizational and psychological processes are seldom static but instead have a dynamic nature that involve both periods of stability and change over time (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). In order for organizations to reach their goals through stable and changing periods, resources are used to create positive employee outcomes such as work engagement and retention (Guest, 2017) and cause psychological contract fulfillment (Rousseau et al., 2018). Work engagement is a state of motivation that involves being dedicated, absorbed, and full of vigor and energy while carrying out work-related tasks (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzáles-Romá, & Bakker, 2002). Keeping employees engaged over time is important for firms because it makes them perform better, allows them to deal better with demands, and reduces their turnover intentions (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Panagiotis &
Mihail, 2017; Saks, 2006), which in turn reduce costs related to hiring new personnel and stimulating the retainment of human capital (Gavino, Wayne, & Erdogan, 2012). Psychological contracts refer to mutual exchanges of obligations and inducements between employees and employers (Rousseau, 1989), while high levels of fulfillment reflect that the employer has provided the resources that match with an employee’s own goals and expectations (Hansen, 2019). Thus, maintaining high levels of psychological contract fulfillment over time is important
15 for firms because it increases employees’ effectiveness at work, increases their work-related motivation, and reduces turnover intentions (Rousseau et al., 2018; Zhao et al., 2007). While much theory argues that resources and work-related events have a dynamic nature that affects employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment over time, few longitudinal studies have examined the development of these relationships.
This thesis first addresses longitudinal relationships between resources and employee outcomes in the field of human resource management (HRM). Social exchange theory (SET) (Blau, 1964; Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005) argues that distributing resources towards
employees causes them to reciprocate to create a “fair” state of contributions between the parties, and firms should intend to provide either stable or increasing levels of resources in order to maximize financial outcomes over time. Social exchange theory has been applied in HRM research to explain the mechanism of providing resources (practices) to cause reciprocation of important employee outcomes (Wright & McMahan, 1992). Providing opportunities for
development for employees is one type of resource that is argued to be important across different types of organizations (Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2008) because these resources stimulate employees’
wishes to learn and develop and to identify with the values and goals of the firm (Gavino et al., 2012), which in turn causes the reciprocation of work engagement and lower turnover intentions (Guest, 2017). Many cross-sectional studies have found support for the use of opportunities for development or similar resources to positively affect employee outcomes (Alfes, Shantz, Truss,
& Soane, 2013; Jiang et al., 2012; Jiang, Takeuchi, & Lepak, 2013; Panagiotis & Mihail, 2017).
However, cross-sectional findings that are based on only one wave of data allow us only to assume that resources and employee outcomes are related in a static way over time, because there is a lack of data that shows when and how they change (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010).
16 Thus, studies using one wave of data (and an assumption of stability in the findings) are the basis of our modern understanding of organizations that go through both stable and changing periods (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). Assumed stable effects break with recent longitudinal studies that have shown that positive changes to HRM cause positive changes in employee outcomes that diminish further out in time (Piening, Baluch, & Salge, 2013). This thesis builds upon previous cross-sectional work that has related opportunities for development with work engagement and intentions to stay by examining these factors longitudinally.
The thesis also examines the role of resources in psychological contracts. Conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989) has been used to describe the mechanism by which employees gain, protect, and accumulate resources over time and psychological contract fulfillment and under-fulfillment reflect successful and unsuccessful gathering of resources respectively (Coyle-Shapiro, Pereira Costa, Doden, & Chang, 2019). Employees who hold relational psychological contracts have been argued to experience dynamically changing obligations (McLean Parks, Kidding, & Gallagher, 1998; Rousseau & McLean Parks, 1993).
Dynamically changing obligations imply that employees’ desires for resources, such as job security and retention, support for skill development, appreciation for performance, and participation in decision-making, can change over time (Raeder, Wittekind, Inauen, & Grote, 2009). Cross-sectional research has shown that employees who have relational psychological contracts are often dissatisfied with the resources that they receive, and thus perceive lower psychological contract fulfillment (Isaksson, De Cuyper, Bernhard Oettel, & De Witte, 2010;
Raja, Johns, & Bilgrami, 2011). However, these cross-sectional studies could not do more than assume that these relationships develop statically over time (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010).
Having many relational obligations and perceiving low fulfillment reflects the intangible nature
17 of psychological contracts, which are vulnerable to misunderstandings between the leader and the employee (McLean Parks et al., 1998), and where a “bigger” and more complex contract causes difficulties in evaluating fulfillment (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). While stimulating the fulfillment of relational psychological contracts seems challenging, leaders’ behaviors and resources towards employees are believed to be an important factor that can downplay problems.
For example, if leaders manage to communicate in a timely manner with employees about the employees’ desires for resources, then the leaders may also be better equipped in the process of aligning resources to help employees to reach their goals at work and cause psychological contract fulfillment (Rousseau et al., 2018; Woodrow & Guest, 2019). Empowering leadership behaviors and resources that focus on sharing power and allowing employees to be self-managed (Vecchio, Justin, & Pearce, 2010) have been associated with relational resources such as skill development and participation in decision-making and, therefore, may also fulfill relational psychological contracts to a greater extent (Liu, Lepak, Takeuchi, & Sims, 2003; Rousseau, 1995). This thesis examines the longitudinal relationships between relational psychological contract obligations and employee psychological contract fulfillment using empowering leadership as a moderator.
Lastly, the thesis explores how different frequencies of work-related events are related to psychological contract fulfillment and employee outcomes over time. According to the dynamic phase model (DPM) (Rousseau et al., 2018), disrupting single events can be either positive (high levels of fulfillment) or negative (low levels of fulfillment) based on whether the new
circumstances reflect matching or mismatching exchanges of obligations and inducements, respectively. However, events systems theory (EST) (Morgeson et al., 2015) argues that work- related events (such as starting a new job, being promoted, being assigned a new leader, and
18 experiencing organizational change events) seldom occur as isolated phenomena, but instead act together in chains or clusters in which the frequency of events reflects the level of resources needed in order to adapt to them. Thus, when increasing frequencies of work-related events occur over time, it is better if the employees have already gained, protected, and accumulated a high stock of resources that they can use to cope with new circumstances, as stated in COR theory. We know from the meta-study of Zhao et al. (2007), which included many cross-sectional research papers, that breach events relate to under-fulfillment of the psychological contract and several negative employee outcomes. In addition, cross-sectional work has shown that very high frequencies of organizational change events relate to lower psychological contract fulfillment (Van der Smissen, Schalk, & Freese, 2013). However, we know less about how different frequencies of events relate to psychological contract fulfillment and employee outcomes over time.
This thesis highlights the following reasons for studying how employees’ perceptions of resources and work-related events are related to employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment over time. First, theories in the organizational sciences have a longitudinal nature with inferences about processes that are driven by cause and effect relationships, and for studying such processes, three waves of data or more is preferred (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010). Indeed, moving beyond one wave of data allows us to build better theory and test stronger hypotheses that involve aspects of time, such as when the studied relationships are stable and when they change, instead of only assuming that they develop in a stable way. Second, progressing with longitudinal studies allows us to highlight the role of the time lag between cause and effect relationships (Mitchell & James, 2001), which are also often part of the theoretical explanations for how resources and work-related events drive changes in employee
19 outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment. Third, longitudinal studies allow us to explore the exact duration (George & Jones, 2000) for which resources and work-related events are related to employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment. Fourth, repeated measures designs are not limited as much as cross-sectional designs regarding common-methods biases and bi-directionality issues (Singer & Willett, 2003). Fifth, repeated measures studies that highlight the time lag and duration of the studied relationships provide practitioners with richer information on when they can expect their resources to affect employees whether they will have delayed effects, or when the resources start diminishing over time and have less of an effect on the employees.
The overall aim of this thesis is to build theory within the fields of human resource management practices and psychological contracts by studying various relationships between resources, work-related events, and employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment over time. This thesis builds on prior cross-sectional models and integrates SET, COR, and EST by including a time component. Thus, it assumes that the above-stated relationships can develop in stable and changing ways over time. In addition, the thesis emphasizes the role of time by highlighting factors such as the time lags and durations of the studied relationships. This thesis refers at times to the longitudinal study of resources, work-related events on employee outcomes, and psychological contract fulfillment as the thesis model (not to be confused with other
established models in the field of organizational behaviors). The thesis and its accompanying three papers studied resources, work-related events, employee outcomes, and psychological contracts using employee-level data that was gathered monthly throughout the period of one whole year. These data were analyzed in the three individual research papers, which looked at 1) stable and changing resources in the form of opportunities for development predict intentions to
20 stay indirectly through work engagement over time; 2) stable and changing relational employer obligations as perceived by the employees predict psychological contract fulfillment moderated by empowering leadership over time; and 3) psychological contract fulfillment trajectories are explored in relation with different frequencies of events and employee outcomes over time. This thesis first reviews the theory and research within the domain of HRM and psychological contracts and then presents an integration of the theories and the models and research aims for the three research papers. The methods and results are then presented. Finally, there is a discussion of the findings, a discussion of strengths and limitations of the work, and a final conclusion.
2.0 Theory 2.1 Role of Time
According to Ployhart and Vandenberg (2010), longitudinal studies should contain at least three repeated waves of data on the dependent variable and at least one wave on the independent variable, but preferably many more waves of data. These minimum requirements allow for building longitudinal theory that describes both static and dynamic development in employee perceptions of work over time and, thus, contributes beyond theory building that uses cross- sectional research methods (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). Some studies have used two waves of data in total and claimed to build theory on temporal relationships. However, these designs are limited by confounding measurement error with true change, and can only prove linear change between the two waves (Singer & Willett, 2003). Thus, by having at least three waves of data on the dependent variable and a minimum of one wave of data on the independent variable, one can compare between-person level differences in the independent variable and within-person
development on the dependent variable.
21 When studying stable and dynamic development in related constructs over time, it is not meant that the studied relationships develop because of time, but they can develop either in a stable or changing manner over time (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). Time itself does not cause employees to experience a positive change in their motivational states. Instead, it is meant that positive or negative changes in organizational resources can cause changes in employee outcomes over time. Thus, time is, in this study, understood as a metric with which to study development between related variables (Singer & Willett, 2003).
When building longitudinal theory, the role of time can be approached from a wide array of different angles. However, in this thesis, the overall emphasis is on the concept of the time lag and duration of the studied relationships. The time lag refers to the time involved for the independent variable to cause an effect on the dependent variable, and theory and research are often not explicit in making such inferences for when effects occur (Mitchell & James, 2001).
Cross-sectional studies assume no time lag, because the independent and dependent variables are surveyed more or less simultaneously (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010). As argued in the
introduction, cross-sectional studies that have no time lag infer static relationships that also may be limited by common methods biases (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003).
Researchers should as much as possible make inferences regarding the time lag to use in their study design based on the theory and research in their respective domains (Ployhart &
Vandenberg, 2010). Not consulting prior studies and theory regarding time lag increases the risk of inappropriate measurement, false inferences about the direction of a relationship, and false inferences regarding relationship strength (Mitchell & James, 2001).
Within the field of HRM research, Wright and Haggerty (2005) argued that employees’
perceptions of resources provided to them are of a short-lived nature. By this, they mean that
22 workers more or less deal mostly with their recent experiences at work. For example, if
employees are provided HRM resources in January 2020, they will perceive and evaluate those resources then, and focus less on them later. That employees perceive and deal with their most recently occurring resources necessitates the use of shorter time lags, because only then can researchers be sure that the employees are providing valid perceptions of the resources they are given. Recent research on psychological contracts has also used short time lags (three months) (Bankins, 2015; Woodrow & Guest, 2019), because of the belief that employees’ perceptions of breach events and their consequences on employee outcomes are closely related to time
(Rousseau et al., 2018).
According to George and Jones (2000), all organizational phenomena exists over a period of time. Thus, they defined duration as the amount of time that an independent variable causes development in the dependent variable, from the beginning to the end of the effect. Research that establishes significant results on the basis of one wave of data has in practice no duration, and instead assumes an indefinite stable duration. Such development is seldom the narrative for modern organizations (Pitariu & Ployhart, 2010). Therefore, when making inferences about the duration of the related constructs, information about the permanence of the phenomena and the short-lived nature of the employees’ perceptions of resources and events is deemed important (Wright & Haggerty, 2005). This is because surveying employees about their perceptions of past resources may become confounded by employees’ more recent experiences at work (George &
Jones, 2000).
Although organizational theory is said to have a longitudinal nature, it does not always provide explicit notions of the role of time lags and durations in organizational phenomena and psychological processes. Thus, when building longitudinal theory on organizational and
23 psychological phenomena, there are typically two paths one can choose. When theory and
research provide certain inferences regarding time lags and durations, it may fit well to choose a deductive research strategy with hypotheses. If theory and research are less explicit on the role of time, however, an inductive strategy using research questions in a more exploratory manner can be used to build theory (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010).
2.2 Social Exchange Theory
Social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) outlines the social behavior of people who engage in different forms of either social or economic exchange. According to Cropanzano and Mitchell (2005), this theory is one of the most influential and applied theories for understanding organizational behavior. According to Blau (1964), social exchange processes occur between individuals all the time, and can be seen in everything from collegial relationships, to love relationships, to friendships between people and their neighbors. Social exchange processes build on the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960), defined as the interdependence of two parties exchanging knowledge, work efforts, or goods in a complementary way as time passes. In reciprocal exchanges between the employer and the employee that are interdependent, the outcomes of the exchanges are based on the contributions of both parties (Blau, 1964). For example, when HRM personnel or leaders provide resources to employees, the employees feel obliged to reciprocate, and the organization will generate more value than if these exchanges did not occur. When these parties engage in exchanges over time, it becomes a self-reinforcing process in which the employees’ level of contribution is based on the level they perceive as being given by the employer (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). This implies that social exchange
processes may develop both in stable or changing ways over time depending on the level of resources that is distributed to the employees. Blau (1964) argued that the purpose behind
24 changing the level of resources or adapting resources is the generation of new or more value. For example, when employers provide resources meant to enhance the skills and competencies of employees, these resources have limited value over time because when employees apply the knowledge, it also becomes owned and learned over time. Said differently, the more employees learn from the resources they receive the less dependent they also become on their employers to generate value for the organization, and thus, the interdependence between the parties becomes less. In more modern terms, the adoption of resources and human resource practices serves the purpose of renewing human capital in the organization, which in turn empowers employees with new skills and competencies that contribute strategically to the firms’ overall values, goals, and competition in markets (Jackson, Schuler, & Jiang, 2014).
Social exchange theory is used in this thesis and in the first research paper to examine how stable and changing levels of opportunities for development lead to the reciprocation of intentions to stay indirectly through work engagement over time. This thesis and the first paper advance prior cross-sectional work by building theory regarding whether social exchange processes are stable, changing, or both, and highlights on time lags and durations of the studied relationships.
2.2 Conservation of Resources Theory
Conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001) is a theory of stress that has been frequently applied in the social sciences as well as in work and organizational psychology research over the past few decades. It was first presented by Hobfoll (1989), who defined stress as a reaction to events and circumstances that either threaten resources, lead to a net lack of resources, or cause an actual lack of resources. Hobfoll (1989) defined resources as any conditions, objects, energies, or personal characteristics that people see as valuable (p. 516).
25 Conservation of resources theory argues that people in general, and employees in particular, are motivated to gain, accumulate, and protect resources over time in order to cope with stressful events (Hobfoll, 1989). For example, organizational readjustments may bring along promotions or higher salaries, and employees who see such circumstances as positive perceive them as resource gains. Conversely, organizational readjustments can also lead to a loss of work, lower salaries due to cut-backs, less flexibility, or lower status, which are commonly viewed as resource losses. What people perceive as losses or a gains of resources follows trends in the culture, and thus, variation may exist between groups of individuals who share opinions
regarding which events are viewed as desirable (Hobfoll, 2001). Among important resources for employees, Hobfoll suggested, are receiving acknowledgements of accomplished work or understanding from superiors and having enough time for work. Hobfoll highlighted also the motivational aspects of positive and negative events, whereby people typically feel engaged by positive events while avoiding negative events. This is because negative events feel like major losses and threaten resources (Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg, & Wheatley, 1998). More recently, Hobfoll (2011) extended the application of COR theory to organizations to new levels and argued that organizations may in fact increase their functions as resource providers if resources are somewhat aligned with the work-related aims and goals of their employees. The concept of aligning resources with employees aims and goals shares similarities with
psychological contract theory, which claims that employees’ perceptions of the fulfillment of their psychological contracts occurs when they are given resources they actually want (Rousseau et al., 2018).
Conservation of resources theory is applied in this thesis and also in the second and third accompanying papers, in which the level of psychological contract fulfillment reflects the
26 employees’ success in gaining, protecting, and accumulating resources over time. There were three factors associated with resources gains and losses. First, high levels of relational employer obligations as perceived by the employees were viewed as a source for resource loss. Second, empowering leadership behaviors and resources were viewed as resource gains. Third, high frequencies of work-related events were associated with losses. These three factors will be presented in the psychological contract theory paragraphs. This thesis and papers 2 and 3
advance prior cross-sectional theory and research by examining resource gain and loss processes in the context of psychological contract fulfillment and highlighting the time lags and durations of the studied relationships.
2.3 Events Systems Theory
Events systems theory (Morgeson et al., 2015) describes how work-related events within organizations are associated with outcomes at the individual level, team level, and organizational level, and/or at times also related with external environments. Events systems theory is not as broad as SET and COR, and its application is focused on organizational and psychological processes. Events systems theory provides a framework for work-related events and the strength that follows those events, and also for when and how events are bounded in space and
throughout time. A work-related event is defined as novel, critical, and disruptive; it captures the attention of the employees, who direct their cognitive efforts and resources to cope with the new circumstances (Morgeson, 2005). Work-related events bring along new actions and goals that demand cognitive effort due to the employees having to learn new behaviors and adapt to new circumstances. Work-related events can occur at different levels within an organization and cause outcomes at higher and lower levels (Morgeson et al., 2015). Examples of events occurring at the individual level are when employees experience a promotion or start a new job, which directs
27 their cognitive actions and demands the use of resources. Examples of events that cross
organizational levels are when employees experience a leadership change or other organizational change events, which ultimately also demand resources in order for employees to adapt to their new work settings. Employees perceive a certain strength associated with the work-related events, and with their novelty, criticalness, and disruptiveness. When the frequency of work- related events increases over time, it is assumed to have a global negative effect on employees by making it cognitively more challenging for them to adapt. Thus, they will also need more
resources in order to manage these changing circumstances (Morgeson et al., 2015). The
accumulation of events is believed to occur in different ways. For example, events may appear in a chain-like form, where one event causes the next to occur, and the next event leads to another event, and so on. Several events may also appear as a cluster, where one major event is related to several other events happening simultaneously.
Events systems theory is part of this thesis and the third research paper. It provides a framework of work-related events and explains how increasing frequencies of events affect employees over time. Employees’ perceptions of different frequencies of work-related events across the year are explored through different psychological contract fulfillment trajectories, and single work-related events are related to fulfillment across three and four months intervals. The theory-building highlights the time lags and durations (both short-term and long-term) of the studied relationships over time.
2.4 How Social Exchange Theory, Conservation of Resources Theory, and Events Systems Theory are Related
The three discussed theories – SET, COR, and EST – share certain similarities but are also distinct, and thus contribute to the thesis model in the following ways. First, SET, COR, and
28 EST acknowledge that resources may have positive influences for firms and their employees over time. However, the mechanisms behind resources and employees responses vary somewhat among the theories. Social exchange theory describes a mechanism of exchanges between the employer and employees, and early versions of the theory explicitly highlight the use of
resources that enhance the skills of employees (Blau, 1964). The mechanism of exchange stems from economic and cost-benefit analyses in which the value must be higher than the costs of resources must weigh higher than the costs. Providing employees with resources such as training and opportunities for development is commonly viewed as beneficial in the research field of HRM, which views motivational (work engagement) and attitudinal responses (turnover intensions) as a form of reciprocation that benefits both the organization and the employees’
well-being (Guest, 2017). Conservation of resources theory suggests a somewhat different purpose of resources, which is to allow employees to cope better with negative events that are believed to bring experiences of stress and loss of resources. This theory outlines in broad terms the types of resources that are beneficial during stress-evoking processes. Furthermore, COR theory distinguishes between positive events and negative events, suggesting that positive events drive motivation while negative ones initiate people’s psychological immune systems and should be avoided (Hobfoll, 2001). The mechanisms behind resources and employee responses in COR theory are rooted more in psychology compared to SET. Within the field of organizational behavior and psychology, COR theory has also been linked with (un)desirable psychological contract scenarios in which work engagement is viewed as resource gains that follow positive events while turnover intentions reflect a loss of resources and the stress that follow negative events (Akkermans, Bal, & De Jong, 2019). Events systems theory is similar to SET and COR theory in that it argues that resources have positive benefits for employees, but it refers more
29 explicitly to the contexts in which organizations go through periods of change due to the
occurrence of work-related events (Morgeson et al., 2015). The purpose of resources is, however, different in EST compared to the other theories. Indeed, EST argues that the purpose of resources relates to how employees learn and cope with changing circumstances. Thus, EST does not provide theory on employees’ affective reactions or well-being, nor on the economic aspects for organizations. However, EST does provide a framework of work-related events that are believed to demand resources in general, and it suggest that increasing frequencies of events demand more resources. Events systems theory can be argued to be a stronger theory for how events are bounded through space and time when compared to COR theory, which describes more how employees cope with one-off events. All summated, the three theories complement each other by suggesting that resources cause reciprocal responses from employees, that resources are
beneficial in the stress-evoking process of events, and lastly, that increasing levels of resources are needed when the frequencies of events increase so that employees can adapt.
Second, SET, COR, and EST all assume that the relatedness between resources and work- related events and employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment portray a process that can be stable or dynamically changing over time. The theories have varying degrees of explicitness in describing stable and changing relationships. Social exchange theory argues more or less implicitly that the principle of reciprocity between the employer and employee is a self- reinforcing process that can be both stable and changing. A stable social exchange process suggests that the level of resources provided by the employer and the level of reciprocation from the employee are stable over time, and that exchanges like that are valuable for a firm. A
changing social exchange process is when the employer increases or decrease their levels of resource distribution, which in turn stimulates employees to also increase or decrease their
30 reciprocation, respectively (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). Conservation of resources also argues more implicitly that employees’ gathering of resources over time can develop in stable or changing ways depending on whether positive or negative events occur. Events systems theory also argues that the work-related events and the different frequencies of events cause outcomes that may change over time, but that changing circumstances end (transforms into stability) when their surroundings have adapted to the events, which suggests stable development.
Third, and finally, the theories (apart from EST) do not highlight the importance of studying specific time lags and durations, although the theories do describe cause and effect relationships and ongoing processes. Events systems theory argues more explicitly that events effect outcomes at different levels in organizations and have varying durations and needs for resources. Therefore, this thesis highlights the role of time when building theory by focusing on the time lags and durations of the studied relationships.
2.5 Employee Outcomes: Work Engagement, Turnover Intentions, and Time
In the thesis, and in research papers 1 and 3, work engagement and lower turnover intentions are seen as outcomes of resources and work-related events. Work engagement has, over the last two decades, received much attention from scholars, and was initially seen as the opposite construct to burnout (Maslach & Leiter, 1997). Scholarship on work engagement marked the start of the era of positive psychology and the idea that work can also consist of motivation factors instead of only stress (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008). In recent decades, work engagement has been shown to be important to organizations due to its positive implications for both
employee well-being and firm-level performance (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). Indeed, employees experience much work engagement when they receive resources from their organizations, and they can use these resources to deal with demands (Bakker, Hakanen,
31 Demerouti, & Xanthopoulou, 2007). Work engagement is a state of motivation defined by the three sub-factors of vigor, dedication, and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2002). Vigor describes high levels of energy and resilience. Dedication means being inspired and enthusiastic, and experiencing a sense of challenge and pride in one’s work. Absorption describes a focus on tasks and the state of maintaining concentration over time. Schaufeli et al. (2002) first argued that work engagement was a persistent experience that lasted over long periods, which implies that employees should experience more or less stable levels of engagement over time. However, Bakker, Albrecht, and Leiter (2011) conceptualized the notion of how work engagement
develops over time, suggesting that it may change from day to day. Among the factors that may lead to changes in work engagement are changes in work design characteristics (Kahn, 1990) such as opportunities for development or similar practices (Bakker & Bal, 2010; Piening et al., 2013; Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2009). Longitudinal studies have
concluded that employees’ work engagement can change on a short-term basis, such as over days or weeks. Therefore, empirical studies that use long time lags ranging from one to two years likely obscure changes in work engagement that happen on a short-term basis (Mäkikangas, Kinnunen, Feldt, & Schaufeli, 2016).
Intentions to stay describe general attitudes of whether employees intend to start looking for work elsewhere, and are sometimes based on events and changes in job characteristics that are seen as undesirable by employees (T. W. Lee & Mitchell, 1994). Knowledge regarding employees’ intentions to stay is important because employees may eventually turn to other employers (N. P. Podsakoff, Lepine, & Lepak, 2007; Rubenstein, Eberly, Lee, & Mitchell, 2017), which would then lead to increased expenses related to hiring new personnel (Jiang et al., 2012).
Early theory on turnover intentions stated that thoughts of quitting describe an ongoing process
32 in which employees evaluate their overall satisfaction with organizational and job characteristics (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, & Meglino, 1979) as well as other labor-market preferences (Hom, Griffeth, & Sellaro, 1984). However, these theories are less explicit regarding how employees' turnover intentions develop stably or change over time. Recent theoretical work suggests that work-related events may jolt employees from steady states of thriving, causing them to evaluate opportunities elsewhere (T. W. Lee & Mitchell, 1994). Few longitudinal empirical studies have examined stability and change in intentions to stay, but empirical studies using three-month time lags have shown that they can change over time (Chen, Ployhart, Thomas, Anderson, & Bliese, 2011).
2.6 Human Resource Management and Time
In this thesis and in paper 1, HRM is viewed as a resource that leads to positive employee outcomes. Human resource management has been defined as the pattern of planned activities and resources relating to its workforce in order for firms to achieving their goals (Wright &
McMahan, 1992). The activities that firms initiate to reach their goals are often referred to as HRM practices. As firms vary considerably in their goals and characteristics, many different applications and practices exist. One large part of HRM scholarship has focused on different types of systems of practices that have the strategic purpose of realizing firm-level outcomes (high-performance work systems, high-commitment work systems) (Jiang et al., 2012). Another large part of the scholarship has focused on HRM systems and practices in mediation designs, including both firm-level and individual-level outcomes (Jiang et al., 2013). According to Jiang and colleagues, mediation designs are powerful in the context of HRM because they help build theory beyond the general relationships between HRM and firm-level outcomes, and include a perspective on individual-level outcomes. Meta-analyses have shown that high levels of
33 resources in HRM systems lead to positive organizational and employee outcomes (Jiang et al., 2012; Jiang et al., 2013). However, the studies behind these meta-analyses were cross-sectional, and thus, they could not provide empirical evidence as to whether the studied relationships developed stably or changed over time (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010).
A minor part of HRM scholarship has examined the concept of time in HRM, and how employees’ perceptions of changes in HRM lead to changing attitudes (Wright & Haggerty, 2005). Within this part of the literature, a few scholars have explored how employees’
perceptions of HRM systems develop over time and are related to employee attitudes and
behavior outcomes (Piening et al., 2013). A few scholars have also pursued studying single HRM practices over time, such as training and selection practices, and relating them with employee- level attitudes and behaviors as well as performance at the unit-level (Van Iddekinge et al., 2009).
According to Wright, Dyer, and Takla (1999), changes in single HRM practices or systems of HRM practices must be viewed in the context of the firms’ goals, and that the pace of change reflects both the market and the firm’s ability to carry out the change. Wright and colleagues interviewed several HRM leaders and practitioners who stated that changes to HRM systems require at least one year to become fully implemented. Other empirical studies have shown that single HRM practices, such as training and opportunities for development, may change on a short-term basis due to a firm’s overall needs for adapting the knowledge of the employees, which again is for the benefit of the firm as a whole (Van Iddekinge et al., 2009). However, empirical studies have also shown that larger HRM systems (which also include incentives for training and opportunities for development) change across a longer period of several years (Piening et al., 2013). Wright and Haggerty (2005) argued that individuals will focus their
34 attention on events that have occurred recently in time, and that after a while, new events capture their attention and affect their attitudes. Said differently, when employees are offered training or opportunities for development, their perceptions of those arrangements are more likely to affect their attitudes in the near future rather than further out in time. Therefore, the use of longer time lags when studying the relationships between HRM and employee outcomes may obscure variation between surveys, and in the worst case, threaten the validity of findings (Mitchell &
James, 2001; Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010)
In this thesis and in paper 1, it was chosen to examine employees regarding their perceptions of single HRM practice opportunities for development and their effects on employees’ intentions to stay measured indirectly through work engagement over time. The reason for choosing this conceptual model was that recent theory in the field of HRM has argued that opportunities for development make contributions beyond firm-level outcomes by affecting individual-level outcomes related to employees’ well-being and attachments to their firms (Guest, 2017).
Opportunities for development are incentives that allow employees to enhance their skills and competences, encourage employees to identify with the goals of the organization, and allow the firm to develop human capital (Gavino et al., 2012). Studying how opportunities for
development are related to work engagement and intentions to stay over time is important because it will provide additional information about whether positive outcomes last over time or whether they diminish or become reduced at some point (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010).
Providing employees the opportunity to develop competences at work reduces feelings of
discomfort, and can also reduce the stress that is often associated with work-related demands and generate motivation in employees (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Guest (2017) argued that
opportunities for development stimulate well-being and work engagement because learning is
35 associated with growth. Indeed, cognitive training has been found to positively affect employees’
senses of well-being, which also reduces their turnover intentions (Proudfoot, Corr, Guest, &
Dunn, 2009). Early HRM papers argued that opportunities for development initiatives (and similar practices) are universal and that the implementation of these practices generate value for all firms (Delery & Doty, 1996). Most HRM systems include opportunities for development due to the positive consequences they have for employees’ work-related motivation and intentions to stay, again, factors argued to save firms costs related to replacing employees who decide to leave (Gavino et al., 2012; Jiang et al., 2012). Training and opportunities for development are
commonly used resourced in the Norwegian work context, where as much as 87% of companies offer these resources to employees (Steffensen, 2007).
2.6.1 Opportunities for Development and Employee Outcomes: A Social Exchange Perspective
In paper 1, the role of time in the relationship between opportunities for development and intentions to stay, mediated through work engagement, is seen in the context of SET (Blau, 1964;
Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). As previously argued, social exchange is rooted in the principle of reciprocity, which in paper 1 reflects employees’ perceptions of being offered opportunities for development. Reciprocation is found in the employees’ work engagement and turnover
intentions. Regarding the role of time, paper 1 builds upon theory on social exchange processes because previous studies that have examined the relationship between opportunities for
development and intentions to stay measured indirectly through work engagement have been cross-sectional (Alfes et al., 2013; Panagiotis & Mihail, 2017). Social exchange processes can be both change and be stable over time, and in this regard, reflect both between-person differences and within-person changes in employees (Shore, Coyle-Shapiro, Chen, & Tetrick, 2009). Key in
36 the social exchange process and how it develops over time is employees’ perceptions of
receiving a certain level of inducements by their superior, to which they then reciprocate a
“similar” level of inducements in return. When the superior changes the level of inducements offered, it is noted by the receiving employee, who in turn also adjusts their level of inducements (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). In this thesis and in paper 1, it was anticipated that employees’
perceptions of the level of opportunities for development might be both stable and changing over time, and that reciprocation of work engagement and intentions to stay would adjust to balance out inducements from superiors. In summary, paper 1 examined the stable and changing social exchange processes underlying the relationships between stable and changing opportunities for development and intentions to stay, measured indirectly through work engagement.
2.7 Psychological Contracts and Evaluations of Fulfillment Over Time
The thesis and research papers 2 and 3 examine the role of resources and work-related events on the development of employee outcomes and psychological contract fulfillment.
Rousseau (1989) defined the psychological contract as an individual’s subjective beliefs of the reciprocal obligations and inducements that are exchanged between the employer and the employee. Employees’ perceptions of the obligations and inducements they receive from their employer guide the employees regarding the level of effort that they should exert for the employer. Rousseau (1989) highlighted the idiosyncratic view that employees’ psychological contracts are “in the eye of the beholder” (p.123). This statement implies that as time passes, an individual employee may draw upon interpretations of observed activities and dialogues with leaders, supervisors, and managers at work and perceive the psychological contract accordingly (Rousseau, 1995). These interpretations will not necessarily be similar to those of other
colleagues, and thus, the evaluations of psychological contract fulfillment are subjective
37 (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). Psychological contracts may, therefore, develop stably or change over time among employees (Rousseau et al., 2018).
The role of time in psychological contracts was implicitly highlighted in early theoretical work by Rousseau (1989). For example, Rousseau argued that when matching obligations and inducements are exchanged consistently between employers and employees over time, it binds the two parties together, and this may make an exit feel costly for the employees (Rousseau, 1989, p. 129). The implicit notion of time in the above-stated theory rests on the fact that no information was provided about when one can expect that an exit will start feeling costly for employees as a consequence of a match between obligations and inducements. In addition, Rousseau’s theory and theory in general says little regarding the duration of relationships of mismatching obligations and inducements, or regarding their links with turnover intentions.
Previous cross-sectional studies that examined the negative relationship between psychological contract fulfillment and turnover intentions (Coyle-Shapiro et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2007) have failed to address the role of time in this sense because they used only one wave of data.
However, recent scholarship on psychological contracts has contributed to developing theoretical assumptions regarding when psychological contracts change and how they change over time. The recently published DPM (Rousseau et al., 2018) is an outstanding example of such longitudinal theoretical progress and provides several explanations of how psychological contracts change over time.
There are three possible evaluations of an employee’s psychological contract. First, a psychological contract is perceived as fulfilled when the employer has provided inducements and resources that match the employee’s idea of employer obligations (Hansen, 2019). Said
differently, the degree of fulfillment reflects whether there is a low discrepancy between the
38 obligations and inducements, which reflects a high level of fulfillment, or a high discrepancy, which reflects a low level of fulfillment. Second, a psychological contract is breached when the employee perceives that the employer has failed at providing inducements and resources related to either one or several obligations to an extent that is disproportionate to the employee’s contributions (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). Coyle-Shapiro et al. (2019) argued that fulfillment and breaches are two distinct experiences that represent opposite sides of the continuum, where fulfillment is the perception of being induced by the other party (C. Lee, Liu, Rousseau, Hui, &
Chen, 2011) and breaches describe the perception of the other party not upholding the
agreements to induce (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). Third, psychological contract violation is an additional reaction to a breach event that is characterized by intense negative emotional and affective responses (Morrison & Robinson, 1997; Zhao et al., 2007). While fulfillment and breaches are cognitive evaluations of whether obligations and inducements match or mismatch, the experience of violation is the emotional reaction. Thus, the three psychological contract experiences are argued to be distinct (Coyle-Shapiro et al., 2019). This thesis centers on the development of psychological contract fulfillment, with a focus on the level of the discrepancy between obligations and inducements. Not only has psychological contract fulfillment received less research attention compared to psychological contract breaches (Zhao et al., 2007), but also, few studies have examined the longitudinal nature of fulfillment (Rousseau et al., 2018). In paper 2, the topic is the development of fulfillment with a focus on relational obligations of the
psychological contract, while in paper 3, the focus is on the development of overall perceptions of fulfillment.
39 2.7.1 Relational Psychological Contracts and Evaluations of Fulfillment
While many different types of psychological contract obligations exist, most research has focused on studying relational and transactional obligations (Coyle-Shapiro et al., 2019).
Rousseau and McLean Parks (1993) defined relational psychological contracts as dynamic and as containing entitlements besides monetary obligations such as training, skill development, and decision-making. The dynamism of relational contracts is due to motivated “stayers” who are in long-term and open-ended employment relationships and wish to negotiate regarding their relational obligations with their organizational agents over time (Rousseau & McLean Parks, 1993). Having a relational psychological contract that has more content and more obligations in general has been argued to cause more intangibility and more misunderstandings between parties, and therefore results in a less fulfilled contract in the view of the employee (McLean Parks et al., 1998). The lower fulfillment of relational contracts has been understood as a
consequence of misunderstandings that originate from the relational contents and obligations and the resources related to those terms. Indeed, key terms such as training, skill development and decision-making may have different meaning for employees and employers. Furthermore, because employees with relational psychological contracts often have many obligations, relational employees cope with higher complexity in evaluating fulfillment of their contracts.
This increased complexity also adds to the intangibility of the contracts and suggests lower fulfillment, and in certain cases also causes contract violation (Morrison & Robinson, 1997).
Relational contracts have been related with unfulfillment in prior cross-sectional studies
(Isaksson et al., 2010; Raja et al., 2011). In this thesis and in paper 2, a more recent framework of relational psychological contracts is used, focusing on employees’ perceptions of receiving job security and retention, appreciation for performance, support for skill development, and decision-
40 making influence (Wittekind, Raeder, & Grote, 2009). This framework has been argued to be more prevalent in central European countries and Nordic European countries, which are known for stimulating long-term employment by offering more protection for employees (Raeder et al., 2009).
In sum, this thesis argues that having many relational obligations causes more complexity for employees who process the fulfillment of relational contracts, and employees thus are more inclined to experience lower fulfillment. Employees who have relational contracts but fewer obligations and fewer expectations should experience higher fulfillment. The assumption that relational contracts lead to lower fulfillment has not been tested in a longitudinal setting, and thus, this is one of the ambitions for this thesis and paper 2.
2.7.2 Psychological Contract Fulfillment and the Influence of Leaders and Work- related Events: A Conservation of Resources Perspective
In this thesis, and in research papers 2 and 3, the level of psychological contract fulfillment is viewed in the context of COR theory to represent the level of resources that employees have available for dealing with stress in their work settings.
In research paper 2, it is argued in the context of COR theory that when employees have highly relational psychological contract obligations, it is more likely that they also experience lower psychological contract fulfillment (Isaksson et al., 2010; McLean Parks et al., 1998; Raja et al., 2011; Rousseau & McLean Parks, 1993). Given the dynamic nature of relational
psychological contracts (McLean Parks et al., 1998) and that obligations may change
independently from leaders’ inducement of resources (Rousseau et al., 2018), we argue that the links between relational obligations and fulfillment go through stable and changing periods. We also argue that the intangibility and complexity that follow relational psychological contracts can