Breaking trust: Unraveling how psychological contract breach and trust relate to each other over time.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingMeeting abstract (Book)

    Abstract

    Trust--defined as one's expectations, assumptions, or beliefs about the likelihood that another's future actions will be beneficial, favorable, or at least not detrimental to one's interests (Robinson, 1996, p. 576)--is considered a key element in exchange relationships. When employees trust their employer, they perform better, show more organizational citizenship behavior and engage in less counter-productive work behavior (Colquitt, Scott, & Lepine, 2007). Hence, identifying factors that stimulate (or deteriorate) trust between both parties in the exchange relationship is a critical topic in the literature. One such factor is the psychological contract, described as an individual's perception of the mutual obligations between her or himself and another party, such as an organization (Rousseau, 1989). In particular, research has shown that employees loose trust in their organization when they perceive that their organization is breaking certain promises (i.e., psychological contract breach) (Montes & Irving, 2008; Robinson, 1996; Zhao, Wayne, Glibkowski, & Bravo, 2007). Moreover, it has been demonstrated that there is a long-term (over a period of 18 months) negative effect of trust on perceiving psychological contract breach (Robinson, 1996).
    While it appears that the relationship between psychological contract breach and trust is generally well understood, there are still outstanding research questions. First, whereas the long-term effect of trust on perceptions of breach has been demonstrated, it is yet unknown if trust influences perceptions of breach in the short-term (i.e., over a period of one week). Capturing such short-term effects is essential if we wish to understand the temporally dynamic relationship between both constructs. Second, from a theoretical perspective, trust is supposed to influence the likelihood to perceive a breach (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). In other words, people who trust their employer are less likely to interpret a deviation from what was promised as a breach. However, previous studies did not conceptualize breach as a concept with a threshold--a mechanism that is essential if one wants to study psychological contracts as dynamic constructs (Schalk & Roe, 2007). Third, while it has been shown that psychological contract breach results in a loss of trust, the mechanism linking both constructs is not yet fully understood. To this end, we introduce trustworthiness (in terms of ability, integrity, and benevolence) as a mediator. Finally, most studies examined the relationship between psychological contract breach and trust in settings of paid employment (e.g., Robinson 1996; Montes & Irving, 2008). However, there is evidence suggesting that similar relationships can be discerned in non-traditional exchange agreements, such as in settings of volunteering (e.g., Vantilborgh, 2014). We therefore examine whether dynamic relationships between psychological contract breach and trust are universally applicable in two studies, each containing a sample of paid employees and volunteers working in social profit enterprises.
    In the first study, we hypothesized that trust (at time T) would increase the threshold to perceive a psychological contract breach (at time T+1). Moreover, we hypothesized that psychological contract breach (at time T) would be negatively related to trust (at time T+1). We conducted a weekly diary study (spanning five weeks) in four social profit organizations, collecting data from 42 paid employees and 59 volunteers. At the end of each week, respondents were asked to indicate their trust in the organization using Robinson's (1996) trust scale. Moreover, they were asked to indicate whether their organization had broken an obligation to them in the past week (Conway & Briner, 2002). Respondents could then check on a list containing 31 common obligations in the psychological contract, which specific obligation(s) were broken in the past week. In total, 285 weekly diaries were completed (average per respondent=2.79). Data were analyzed using a multilevel zero-inflated Poisson model, which allows us to distinguish a binary part in the breach variable (i.e., the threshold to perceive breach) from a count part (i.e., the amount of breaches reported). Results showed that a constrained model fitted better to the data than an unconstrained model, suggesting that the estimated relationships are similar for paid employees and volunteers. Our first hypothesis could be confirmed as there was a positive relationship (?=1.63, z=6.06, pIn the second study, we aimed to replicate our findings from the first study. In addition, we added a novel hypothesis, namely that the relationship between psychological contract breach and trust would be mediated by the trustworthiness of the organization. Trustworthiness is considered to be an antecedent of trust and is commonly described along three dimensions (ability, integrity, and benevolence) (Colquitt et al., 2007). We again conducted a weekly diary study (spanning 5 weeks) in a single social profit organization, collecting data from 33 paid employees and 294 volunteers. The same measures for trust and psychological contract breach were used as in study 1. In addition, we included Mayer and Davis (1999) trustworthiness scales. Data were analyzed using a multilevel zero-inflated Poisson model. Results showed that the findings from the first study could be replicated and that a constrained model again offered a better fit to the data than an unconstrained model. In addition, our hypothesis could be confirmed as trustworthiness mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and trust. In particular, perceptions of breach resulted in a decreased perception of the organization's integrity (indirect effect=-.01, pIn sum, we conclude that trust and psychological contract breach are dynamically related: (1) trust increases the threshold to perceive psychological contract breach in the short-term, and (2) psychological contract breach results in a loss of trust, due a decreased trustworthiness of the organization in terms of integrity. Moreover, this dynamic relationship appears to be universally applicable in traditional and non-traditional exchange agreements.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationBiannual Psychological Contract Small Group Conference
    Place of PublicationToronto, Canada
    Publication statusPublished - 28 Jul 2014
    EventBiannual Psychological Contract Small Group Conference - Toronto, Canada
    Duration: 28 Jul 201429 Jul 2014

    Conference

    ConferenceBiannual Psychological Contract Small Group Conference
    Country/TerritoryCanada
    CityToronto
    Period28/07/1429/07/14

    Keywords

    • trust
    • psychological contract breach
    • violation
    • volunteer
    • paid employee

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Breaking trust: Unraveling how psychological contract breach and trust relate to each other over time.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this