Multiple obligations: distinguishing the dimensionality and confirming the role of ideology within the psychological contract framework

• Main Author: Bingham, John Byron
• Other Authors: Woodman, Richard W.
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Texas A&M University 2006
• Subjects: psychological contract; ideology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/4336

I seek to further understand and empirically test the role of ideology, or commitment to an espoused cause, as part of a multidimensional psychological contract among employees in organizational settings. I present and provide a preliminary validation of a measure of ideological contracts and propose a model that suggests employees develop perceived obligations with their employers based on economic, social, and ideological reasons. Different behaviors are likely to be expected based on the obligation types that are most significant to the employees. Specifically, my model suggests obligations stemming from the espousal of a cause may elicit positive employee contributions toward organizational goals. Further, I posit that employees may seek to benefit distinct individuals and/or entities within the organization based on their psychological contract form. Cross-sectional data from four distinct samples provided strong support for the idea that transactional, relational, and ideological components of the psychological contract are distinct, and preliminary support that such components are predictive of specific individual-level outcomes.