Abstract

As a result of the recent economic crisis, many organizations have been unable to fulfill basic expectations contained in employees' psychological contracts. The purpose of the present study was to examine the resulting relationships between psychological contract breach, violation, and three work outcome variables: job satisfaction, turnover intent, and engagement in job search behaviors. Sixty-eight tenured and tenure-track faculty at California State University, Long Beach were surveyed after significant changes were made to work agreements. Psychological contract breach was highly correlated with violation, and violation was highly correlated with each of the three work outcome variables. Violation also fully mediated the relationship between breach and each of the outcome variables. Job tenure and perceived job availability were tested as potential moderators in this model, however, no moderation effects were observed. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.