When the past is strongly involved in the present: Examining the transference effects of past psychological contract violation on present deviance

Abstract

Employees who experience psychological contract violation may quit the organization and join a new organization. However, how past psychological contract violation influences employees’ behavior in the new organization is less understood. Drawing on the social-cognitive model of transference, we hypothesize that past psychological contract violation is associated with lower psychological ownership and higher job insecurity in the new organization. These adverse transference effects can be buffered by institutionalized socialization tactics in the new organization. Furthermore, past psychological contract violation influences employees’ present deviant behaviors through psychological ownership and job insecurity in the new organization. These indirect effects are weaker when the new organization uses more (vs. less) institutionalized socialization tactics. The results across two field studies provide consistent and robust support for our hypothesized model. We discuss how our findings shed light on the transference effects of psychological contract violation and how to attenuate these harmful effects.