The temporal dynamic relationship between breach, violation and counterproductive work behavior.

The psychological contract is a valuable concept when examining the employer-employee relationship as substantial research documented the adverse effects of psychological contract breach and violation on--for example--counterproductive work behavior towards the organization (CWB-O) and colleagues (CWB-I). While CWB is commonly treated as a consequence of breach, we argue that it can also act as an antecedent when examining how breach, violation and CWB dynamically relate to each other over time. Moreover, whereas breach is commonly measured as a continuum, psychological contract theory states that it is more appropriate to consider tresholds--i.e., tipping-point--to perceive breach. Using weekly diary data from 388 respondents working in a social enterprise, we conducted a multilevel zero-inflated Poission regression analysis. As hypothesized, the intensity of experienced violation at time T-1 related positively to CWB-O at time T. Moreover, while CWB-O at time T-1 related negatively to the likelihood to perceive breach (i.e., threshold) it did not relate to the intensity of violation at time T. Consequently, we demonstrated the different function of this threshold and violation. Finally--as hypothesized--no dynamic relationship was observed between breach, violation and CWB-I. Implications for psychological contract theory and the management of the psychological contract are discussed.