Organizational commitment, psychological contract fulfillment and job performance: a longitudinal quanti-qualitative study.
| Autor | Maia, Leticia Gomes |
| Cargo | Report |
Introduction
Organizational commitment and psychological contracts are constructs that develop over time (Bastos, Maia, Rodrigues, Macambira, & Borges-Andrade, 2014; Conway & Briner, 2005; Costa & Bastos, 2013; Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982). The development may result in trajectories of weakening, strengthening, or stabilizing for these employee-organization linkages. On the one hand, the assumption is that the fulfillment of a psychological contract by the employer and also the high levels of organizational commitment among employees have desirable consequences, such as better job performance (Correia & Mainardes, 2010; Riketta, 2008). On the other hand, there is a complementary assumption that breaches and violations in psychological contracts are associated with lower organizational commitment and job performance (Chen, Tsui, & Zhong, 2008). Nevertheless, studies investigating the consequences of fulfilling, breaking and violating psychological contracts are still needed (Gondim & Rios, 2010; Menegon & Casado, 2012).
Although these three constructs (i.e., psychological contracts, organizational commitment and job performance) each have a long tradition of research separately, they are relatively isolated with little communication between them when taken together. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that followed the development of psychological contracts, organizational commitments and job performances of newcomers during the first three years of their employment in a Brazilian public sector agency. It is complemented by a longitudinal quantitative survey with the same subjects conducted in parallel. The results of the quantitative research are partly used and are examined in conjunction with the qualitative data. The main goal of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the development of organizational commitment, by illustrating the different patterns each with special qualities, in addition to meeting the goal of exploring the relations among psychological contract fulfillment, organizational commitment, and job performance.
The next section of this paper presents a literature review on organizational commitment, psychological contract and job performance, which provides the basis for our analysis. Then, the Method section presents our research design, showing how we developed this quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study, and how we conducted data analysis. The fourth section presents the identification of patterns, the selection of representative cases for each of these patterns, and the quantitative and qualitative results. Then, we discuss and highlight the findings, present some limitations of this study and also suggestions for future research. Finally, in the last section, we conclude and point out this paper's main contributions.
Theoretical Framework
Organizational commitment is often defined as a linkage, bond, or attachment of an individual to an organization (Klein, Molloy, & Cooper, 2009). However, this general definition combines fundamentally different attitudinal phenomena. In the three-component model of organizational commitment, there are three different types of commitment; i.e., affective, normative and continuance. The affective organizational commitment (AOC) highlights the emotional nature that characterizes a linkage between a person and an organization. The normative organizational commitment refers to a kind of link that is maintained due to a feeling of obligation. The bond that exists only because individuals have no other choice is known as continuance commitment. Perhaps the three components have different consequences because they originate from different causes (Bastos et al., 2014).
The three-component model of organizational commitment has been conceptually criticized in that the three bases are possibly three distinct constructs (Rodrigues & Bastos, 2010). We are especially interested in AOC because this type of bond has the strongest correlations with desirable behaviors at work (Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002). The normative and continuance commitments usually present a negative correlation for the same behaviors (Bastos et al., 2014; Maia & Bastos, 2011).
More specifically, our special interest in AOC is in contributing to the discussion on how it develops over time. Thus, we emphasize the importance of considering the AOC as a dynamic phenomenon that may change over time, rather than as a static concept (Bastos et al., 2014; Costa & Bastos, 2013). In this sense, it is important to point out that predictors related to AOC are not necessarily predictors of AOC trajectories. A contextual variable which is associated with low levels of AOC, for example, is not necessarily associated with decreasing trajectories of AOC over time. In other words, what keeps the AOC at a specific level may be different than what makes it increase or decrease over time.
Furthermore, we expect to address a broader perspective than the research on increasing or how to increase AOC. We expect to collaborate in the research on low AOC and how the decrease of AOC happens. Obviously, it is not because there is interest in reducing levels of organizational commitment, but rather because there is interest in preventing them from falling. As highlighted by Morrow (2011), there is an organizational reticence to address cases of low organizational commitment.
In a study with newcomers over 25 consecutive weeks, Solinger, Olffen, Roe and Hofmans (2013) proposed a taxonomy of three scenarios, identifying trajectories of weakening, strengthening, and stabilizing organizational commitment. The stable trajectory includes the scenarios that maintain the bond over time; e.g., if the commitment was initially strong, it is sustained this way over time. In other words, it is a High Match. The Learning to Love scenario represents the trajectory of strengthening in the cases where the newcomer has initial relatively low commitment that then steadily increases. The Honeymoon Hangover scenario represents a weakening after entry of the bond that was initially strong. This has been discussed in previous studies (Cropanzano, James, & Konovsky, 1993).
The concept of psychological contract is linked to organizational commitment, since beliefs about the job agreement bind the involved parties to some set of obligations to each other. The psychological contract is the set of beliefs about the reciprocal obligations between an individual and an organization (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). Even before joining an organization, a psychological contract begins to form, through pre-existing expectations about the organization. Gradually, these pre-entry expectations will take the form of perceived obligations that compose the psychological contract.
The breach of the psychological contract occurs when an individual perceives that the obligations that he or she believes to exist between the parties have not been fulfilled (Robinson & Morrison, 2000). The violation of a psychological contract is an emotional experience of disappointment, frustration, anger and resentment that might emanate from the way the employee interprets and feels about the psychological contract breaches and their circumstances (Morrison & Robinson, 1997).
Generally, the studies relate a negative relationship between breaches in psychological contract and organizational commitment (e.g. Cassar & Briner, 2011; Lapointe, Vandenberghe, & Boudrias, 2013). The effects of psychological contract violation on organizational commitment have been investigated in the public sector context of different countries (e.g. Shahnawaz & Goswami, 2011; Simosi, 2013). The general conclusion of these studies is that, as with the breaches, violations in psychological contract are negatively related to organizational commitment. The fulfillment of a psychological contract, on the other hand, was found to have a positive impact on AOC of public sector employees (Parzefall, 2008). In a study of civil servants in France, Castaing (2006) found a significant association between psychological contract variables and AOC.
AOC has also been related to organization-relevant outcomes as organizational citizenship behaviour and job performance in previous studies (Meyer et al., 2002). On the other hand, job performance is endowed with a wide heterogeneity of predictors (Coelho & Borges-Andrade, 2011). We refer to job performance as the behaviour that is relevant to the organization goals and that can be measured (Campbell, 1999). Traditionally, studies turn towards the investigation of performance management in organizational environments and their consequences, measures, nuances and biases.
Performance management is "a process consisting of managerial behaviours aimed at defining, measuring, motivating, and developing the desired performance of employees" (Kinicki, Jacobson, Peterson, & Prussia, 2013, p. 4). Findings of the meta-analysis studies suggest that commitment affects performance, albeit weakly (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Riketta, 2008). In general, findings about the commitment-performance relationship are non-conclusive (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Mowday et al., 1982).
Method
We conducted the quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study simultaneously. A triangulation of methods was used to maximize the quality and validity of the theoretical contributions made (Flick, 2009). By utilizing a qualitative approach, this study offers an empirical illustration about how the relationship between the constructs develops over time and how it might be interpreted. The qualitative study examines and provides background for the discussion of assumptions on which most of the earlier quantitative studies have been based.
It is worth noting that one of the aims of this study is to explore how fulfillment of the psychological contract could affect AOC and job performance; however, we do...
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