Psychological contract and organizational justice: the role of normative contract
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2018-0039 |
| Date | 06 January 2020 |
| Pages | 17-34 |
| Published date | 06 January 2020 |
| Author | Yolanda Estreder,Thomas Rigotti,Inés Tomás,José Ramos |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Psychological contract and
organizational justice: the role of
normative contract
Yolanda Estreder
Research Institute of Personnel Psychology, Organizational Development and
Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Thomas Rigotti
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Inés Tomás
Research Institute of Personnel Psychology, Organizational Development and
Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain, and
José Ramos
Research Institute of Personnel Psychology, Organizational Development and
Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia and IVIE, Valencia, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of the psychological contract (PC)
simultaneously at the individual level (fulfillment of obligations by the organization and PC violation) and the
organizational level (normative contract), and their relationship with employees’evaluations of organizational
justice. Based on justice and information processing approaches, the hypothesis is that normative contract
has an effect on employees’perceptions of organizational justice, and also moderates the relationship between
PC violation and organizational justice.
Design/methodology/approach –Multilevel modeling was employed with a multinational sample of
5,338 employees nested in 214 companies.
Findings –Findings showed thatbeyond the positive effect of fulfillmentof obligations by the organization,
PC violationhas a strong negative effect onorganizational justice. In addition,normative contracthas a positive
effect on organizational justice, showing thatwhen shared perceptions of normative contract are higher, then
the organizational justice perceptions of employees are also higher. Furthermore, the normative contract
moderated the relationship between PC violation and organizational justice, showing that the negative
relationshipof PC violation with organizationaljustice was stronger when the normative contract was higher.
Practical implications –Findingssuggest that normativecontract has effectson organizational justice,and
that PC violationhad more negativeeffects on employees’perceptionsof organizationaljustice perceptionswhen
colleagues’shared perceptions of fulfillment were higher.This means that social context(shared perceptionsin
an organization about thePC) has effects on individualperceptions of organizational justice. Companiesneed to
pay attentionto detrimental effects on employees who perceive a worse PC thantheir colleagues do.
Originality/value –The study extends the current research by demonstrating that employee–employer
exchanges are not limited to individual level effects because shared perceptions of PC fulfillment (normative
contract) also have relevant effects on employees’perceptions of organizational justice.
Keywords Organizational justice, Multilevel analysis, Psychological contract, Normative contract
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Psychological contracts (PC), defined as “an individual’s beliefs about mutual obligations in
the context of the relationship between employer and employee”(Rousseau, 1990, p. 391),
have become a prominent framework in the study of employment relationships. Since the
seminal re-conceptualization of PC as individual perceptions of the extent to which promises
have been met, research on employee–employer relationships has flourished. However,
despite calls in the literature to consider the organizational context, multilevel designs are
still scarce in this field (Henderson et al., 2008; Scheel et al., 2013; Sonnenberg et al., 2011;
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 42 No. 1, 2020
pp. 17-34
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-02-2018-0039
Received 10 February 2018
Revised 21 August 2018
19 October 2018
26 October 2018
30 October 2018
Accepted 30 October 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
17
Normative
contract and
organizational
justice
Uen et al., 2009). In particular, the role of shared understanding of PC, the so-called
normative contract (i.e. shared perceptions of PC among organizational members), has
received little attention (Rousseau, 1995).
Albeit a multilevel perspective to PC research was proposed early on (e.g. Morrison and
Robinson, 1997), only few studies have followed this call. One exception is a study by
Jiang et al. (2017) who used unit-level impact of organizational changes as a moderator for
the relationship of PC breach to a set of outcomes.
In our study, we will propose that the normative contract indicates a social climate within
organizations that has an influence on the impact of individual perceptions of the PC.
We aim to contribute to the PC literature in several ways. First, by integrating theories on
organizational justice and social information processing theory, we argue that the shared
organizational-level perceptions of the PC (normative contract) are an important contextual
variable that affects individual-level reactions. This assumption will be derived from
theories concerning social comparisons, like Adams (1965) equity theory. Specifically, we
propose that the normative contract has a direct cross-level effect on employees’evaluation
of organizational justice, beyond individual perceptions of the PC. Second, we propose that
the normative contract at the organizational level is a resource that will diminish the
negative relationship feelings of violations and organizational justice. We use organizational
level instead of work team or unit level as social comparisons could take place among
workers at different units in the same company. Third, our study provides evidence about
the differential effects of fulfillment and violation of PCs on work outcomes. Our research
model is outlined in Figure 1.
This study contributes to PC theory by providing further evidence on the joint effects of
breach and violation on justice perceptions. By additionally factoring in the normative
contract and the interplay of the social context with individual perceptions, we extend our
knowledge regarding boundary conditions within the PC-framework. As normative
contracts are likely shaped by organizational politics, and HR-management practices,
this opens up new insights and practical implications for the management of PCs
within organizations.
Psychological Contract
Violation
Organizational level
Individual level
Organizational
Justice
Normative contract
H2
H1
H3
Psychological Contract
Fulfillment
Figure 1.
Conceptual model
incorporating the
research hypotheses
18
ER
42,1
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