How breach and fulfillment of perceived ideological obligations influences volunteers’ work effort: An empirical examination.

We investigate the effects of ideological psychological contract breach and fulfillment (Thompson & Bunderson, 2003) on volunteers' work effort. We use polynomial regression and response surface analysis to look into these effects (Edwards & Parry, 1993), but estimate parameters in a structural equation model, allowing us to take measurement error into account (Edwards, 2007). A two-wave survey yielded data from 299 Belgian volunteers. In case of fulfillment, our findings indicate that volunteers' work effort is highest when both promised and delivered ideological inducements are maximized. However, the curvilinear U-shaped relationship apparent in our data suggests that, for volunteers, work effort tends to be higher when no ideological inducements are promised and delivered compared to when average ideological inducements are promised and delivered. In case of breach, work effort is lowest for under-fulfillment and rises for over-fulfillment. Our study demonstrates that NPO managers should deter from making promises relating to the values or mission of the organization if these cannot be kept.