Perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relations between individual differences and psychological contract breach

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine relations between five individual differences rnvariables (positive affectivity, negative affectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity sensitivity, and rnProtestant work ethic) and the perception of psychological contract breach (PCB), and whether those rnrelations are mediated by perceived organizational support (POS).rnDesign/methodology/approach - A survey was administered to 234 professional (I.e. white-collar)rnemployees in the USA. Regression analyses were conducted to test the proposed relations and rnmediating hypotheses.rnFindings - In line with the hypothesized predictions, the findings indicate that POS fully mediated rnthe relations between four out of the five individual difference variables examined (I.e. positive rnaffectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity sensitivity, Protestant work ethic) and perceived PCB. In rnaddition, POS partially mediated the relation between negative affectivity and perceived PCB.rnResearch limitations/implications - The use of a cross-sectional, non-experimental, design does rnnot allow for conclusions to be drawn regarding causality and it is possible that the reported results rnmay have been influenced by common method variance. Future research should examine additional rnindividual differences and workplace contextual features.rnPractical implications - Managers need to realize that some determinants of perceived PCB, and rnPOS for that matter, are likely to be unrelated to organizational actions. Rather, perceived PCB and rnPOS may result, in part, from an employee's individual characteristics.rnOriginality/value - This is the first study to provide empirical evidence that positive affectivity,rnnegative affectivity, reciprocation wariness, equity sensitivity, and Protestant work ethic may predict rnthe perception of PCB and that POS may mediate these relations.