Content and violation of the psychological contract among head nurses

Abstract

Enquadramento: O estudo foca-se no conceito do Contrato Psicológico (CP) na perspetiva de que a perceção das obrigações existentes entre empregador e empregado é construída pelo indivíduo. Objetivos: Identificar o conteúdo do CP dos enfermeiros chefe, identificar a (in) existência de perceção de violação deste contrato e as reações à eventual perceção de violação. Metodologia: Estudo exploratório descritivo, de abordagem qualitativa, que recorreu à entrevista semiestruturada numa amostra de dez enfermeiros chefe. Resultados: Os conteúdos do CP, ou seja, o que os enfermeiros chefe esperam receber do seu empregador, passam pelo reconhecimento profissional, pela satisfação no trabalho, pela progressão na carreira e pela remuneração compensatória. Quanto ao que estão dispostos a oferecer ao empregador, identificou-se a lealdade à hierarquia, à entidade empregadora e à classe profissional, e um desempenho de excelência. Conclusão: Todos os entrevistados percecionaram violação do CP por parte do seu empregador. As principais reações à violação foram: diminuição do empenhamento organizacional, precipitação para a reforma (intenção de abandonar a organização), desmotivação e negação da nova condição profissional.

Psychological Contract Breach and Its Influence on the Job Embeddedness of Professional Nurses

“…A significant negative relationship was found between psychological contract breach and job embeddedness; thus, the greater the breach is, the lower the job embeddedness of nurses will be. This result supports the argument that breach is associated with negative outcomes such as turnover intent (Clinton and Guest 2014;Rodwell and Ellershaw 2016), early retirement (Dantas and Ferreira 2015), and lower job satisfaction (McCabe and Sambrook 2013;Trybou et al 2016). No previous research was found on the effect of psychological contract breach on job embeddedness.…”

“…It is also associated with a negative effect on productivity, job performance (Conway and Briner 2005), job satisfaction (Robinson and Rousseau 1994;Rodwell and Ellershaw 2016;Rodwell and Gulyas 2013), the trust relationship (Robinson andRousseau 1994), andorganisational commitment (Mcabe andSambrook 2013;Robinson and Rousseau 1994;Rodwell and Ellershaw 2016), as well as an increase in absenteeism (Conway and Briner 2005). Previous research further indicated that breach of the psychological contract increases turnover intentions and actual turnover (Clinton and Guest 2014;Rodwell and Ellershaw 2016;Robinson and Rousseau 1994), as well as employees taking early retirement (Dantas and Ferreira 2015).…”

“…The psychological contract is the tacit understanding or agreement between an employee and employer (Dantas and Ferreira 2015), an unwritten contract that sets certain expectations between the parties (Rousseau 1989;1995). The psychological contract, together with the formal, written employment contract, constitutes the employment relationship.…”

“…Age seems to play a role in how nurses perceive their psychological contracts (Dantas and Ferreira 2015;McCabe and Sambrook 2013;Rodwell and Gulyas 2013). Younger nurses are more sensitive than older ones to breach of their psychological contracts (Bal et al 2008).…”

“…Other authors posit that older workers experience a breach of the psychological contract less intensely in terms of their job satisfaction and job performance (Bal et al 2013;Ng and Feldman 2009). Dantas and Ferreira (2015) report that a breach of the psychological contract among nurses close to retirement age leads to decreased organisational performance, early retirement, demotivation, and denial of their professional status.…”