Actively Coping with Violation: Exploring Upward Dissent Patterns in Functional, Dysfunctional, and Deserted Psychological Contract End States

Abstract

Recently, scholars have emphasized the importance of examining how employees cope with psychological contract violation and how the coping process contributes to psychological contract violation resolution and post-violation psychological contracts. Recent work points to the important role of problem-focused coping. Yet, to date, problem-focused coping strategies have not been conceptualized on a continuum from constructive to destructive strategies. Consequently, potential differences in the use of specific types of problem-focused coping strategies and the role these different strategies play in the violation resolution process has not been explored. In this study, we stress the importance of focusing on different types of problem-focused coping strategies. We explore how employee upward dissent strategies, conceptualized as different forms of problem-focused coping, contribute to violation resolution and post-violation psychological contracts. Two sources of data were used. In-depth interviews with supervisors of a Dutch car lease company provided 23 case descriptions of employee-supervisor interactions after a psychological contract violation. Moreover, a database with descriptions of Dutch court sentences provided eight case descriptions of employee-organization interactions following a perceived violation. Based on these data sources, we explored the pattern of upward dissent strategies employees used over time following a perceived violation. We distinguished between functional (thriving and reactivation), dysfunctional (impairment and dissolution) and deserted psychological contract end states and explored whether different dissent patterns over time differentially contributed to the dissent outcome (i.e., psychological contract end state). The results of our study showed that the use of problem-focused coping is not as straightforward as suggested by the post-violation model. While the post-violation model suggests that problem-focused coping will most likely contribute positively to violation resolution, we found that this also depends on the type of problem-focused coping strategy used. That is, more threatening forms of problem-focused coping (i.e., threatening resignation as a way to trigger one’s manager/organization to resolve the violation) mainly contributed to dysfunctional and deserted PC end states. Yet, in some instances the use of these types of active coping strategies also contributed to functional violation resolution. These findings have important implications for the literature on upward dissent strategies and psychological contract violation repair.

To Jugaad or Not? How Mumbai’s Gig Workers Thrive Against Psychological Contract Discrepancies

“…Between the functional and dysfunctional end states the gig workers found themselves in, they gave the benefit of the doubt to the app, then began with a problem-focused coping approach as the breach violations persisted, before adopting CWB measures at the point of no return (disengagement). This finding is consistent with previous studies (Kassing, 2009; Schalk et al, 2018). These studies observed that employees who were experiencing PC breach/violations adopted an upward shifting strategy while intensifying their dissent at obligated inducements not delivered by the organisation.…”

“…In case of a PC violation, the resolution period will have a start, stabilisation and waning stages, which will be dependent on factors such as how dearly the employee valued the inducement, the restoration efforts, previous breaches experienced/accumulated and the coping response adopted by the employee (Schalk et al, 2018). Employees are also observant of how their peers are faring and managing when it comes to inducements (Rousseau et al, 2006).…”

Comportamento Desviante: Relações entre Violação do Contrato Psicológico e a Cultura Organizacional

“…As respostas à VCP, dentre elas o CDT, têm relação com o estresse e a fadiga, desempenho e comportamento contraproducente no ambiente de trabalho (Achnak et al, 2018;Schalk et al, 2018). Há evidências de relação direta e positiva entre a cultura do tipo hierárquica e conflito e resistência à mudança, manifestando CDT como oposição à autoridade organizacional (Aleksić et al, 2019).…”

The Role of Remediation in Mitigating the Negative Consequences of Psychological Contract Breach: A Qualitative Study in the Banking Sector

“…Furthermore, most of the research on psychological contracts are carried out using cross-sectional questionnaire surveys (Conway & Briner, 2005), whereas the psychological contract is characterized by its dynamism, that is, by changes in the reciprocal exchange. The dynamic processes after psychological contract breach have been highlighted in conceptual and empirical studies (De Ruiter et al, 2016;Farnese et al, 2018;Schalk et al, 2018;Schalk & Roe, 2007;Solinger et al, 2016;Tomprou et al, 2015). Remediation as a dynamic process, however, has been neglected.…”

“…Third, recent literature has paid attention to the processes occurring after breach and process models have been developed (e.g. Bankins, 2015;Schalk et al, 2018). Literature on changes in the psychological contract among newcomers in an organization suggests that the effects of psychological contract breach can be mitigated by providing other inducements to employees to remedy the breach (Lee et al, 2011).…”