Psychological contract ‘breach’: A multiple component perspective to an over-researched construct?

Abstract

The majority of studies investigating psychological contract breach ask participants to indicate the degree of unfulfillment of an organization's commitment to its employer obligations. However, very little systematic evidence exists about what participants understand by ‘unfulfillment’. This study sought to investigate this aspect. Using a series of in-depth interviews, results indicate that there are at least five component forms that characterize the general notion of unfulfillment: magnitude, delay, type/form, inequity and reciprocal imbalance. These results warrant a multi-dimensional investigation of contract breach. Implications and limitations are also discussed.