Daily and weekly psychological contract evaluations : The role of informational justice and participation in decision-making among volunteers and paid employees.

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the role of informational justice and participation as antecedents of psychological contract (PC) evaluations. Specifically, we argue that both antecedents signal that an employee is being cared for and valued, which in turn results in 1) a decreased likelihood to interpret a deviation from what was promised by the employer as a PC breach, and 2) less intense violation feelings.
Design/Methodology. The first experience sampling study examines daily PC evaluations among 56 paid employees during five consecutive days. The second weekly diary survey study examines weekly PC evaluations among 27 paid employees and 27 volunteers during five consecutive weeks. Multilevel zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses were used to predict an individual’s likelihood to perceive a PC breach and intensity of violation.
Results. On a daily level, participation was found to decrease both the likelihood to perceive PC breach and the intensity of violation feelings. On a weekly level, informational justice was found to decrease violation intensity, both among volunteers and paid employees.
Limitations. We did not measure the extent to which individuals felt cared for or valued; including these variables as mediators may further unravel how informational justice and participation influence PC evaluations.
Research/Practical implications. Organizations should invest in informational justice and opportunities for participation, as both seem beneficial for employees’ PC evaluations on a daily and weekly level.
Originality/Value. The proposed relationships were investigated within different time perspectives, thereby highlighting the daily (momentary) or weekly (lingering) roles informational justice and participation play in PC evaluations.