Proposed 2017 AoM Symposium
The Practical Side of the Psychological Contract: The Road to Employee and Employer Interventions
Dear colleagues,
Our apologies for (potential) cross-posting.
Through repeated interactions at work, employees develop beliefs about what they owe their employer and what their employer owes them in return. These exchanges are captured by the concept of psychological contracts (PC) and describe the exchange of employer inducements (e.g., social support and fair wage) in return for employee contributions (e.g., loyalty and commitment). As long as the employer fulfills his side of the PC, the employee will continue to fulfill his/her side of the PC. However, due to a variety of trends-restructuring, downsizing, increased reliance on temporary workers, demographic diversity, and foreign competition- organizations are not always able or willing to fulfill all of their obligations towards employees, resulting in PC breach perceptions. Although a plethora of studies has identified the negative consequences of these PC breaches for the organization, we know far less about the negative repercussions for the employee (e.g., stress, burnout, absenteeism, victims of workplace aggression) or the actions employees (e.g., coping, reappraisal, mindfulness) and organizational agents (e.g., social accounts, apologies, support) can take to overcome these PC breaches.
To stimulate scholarly thought on this exciting line of research, we are considering organizing a symposium on the "practical side of the psychological contract". That is, focusing on the negative repercussions of PC breach for the employee, as well as on employee and employer interventions to overcome perceptions of PC breach. In addition to contacting specific individual scholars, we would like to extend an invitation to this list.
Possible topics (non-exhaustive list) that can be addressed in these presentations include:
- The relationship between PC evaluations (e.g., breach [under-fulfillment, over-fulfillment] and fulfillment) and stress, burnout, absenteeism
- The long-term negative repercussions of PC evaluations (e.g., breach [under-fulfillment, over-fulfillment] and fulfillment) and employee health and well-being
- Post-violation reactions and actors that may influence recovery from PC breach.
- The role of self-initiated actions (e.g., speaking up, changing behavior, complaining) to overcome PC breach
- The practical implications of actions of behalf of the organization (e.g., support, social accounts) or the supervisor (e.g., leader-member exchange) in relation to PC evaluations (e.g., breach [under-fulfillment, over-fulfillment] and fulfillment) and post-violation reactions
- The role of reappraisal and attribution in relation to PC evaluations (e.g., breach [under-fulfillment, over-fulfillment] and fulfillment) and post-violation reactions
If you have research that fits any of the abovementioned topics and if you are interested in participating in this AoM symposium, please inform Yannick Griep (yannick.griep@ucalgary.ca) or Samantha K. Jones (samantha.jones1@ucalgary.ca) or Tim Vantilborgh (tim.vantilborgh@vub.ac.be) before December 22th, 2017 so that we have a better idea about the number of interested participants.
The submission deadline for AoM 2017 conference is January 10th, 2017. We therefore request that you e-mail either of us before January 4th, 2017. AoM requires each presenter to submit a 2-5 page synopsis of the work to be presented. Use Times New Roman 12-point font, double spaced, 1-inch (2.5cm) margin all around, and 8.5"x11" page setting. Each presentation may include a maximum of two additional pages of tables and figures. Tables and figures must be clear and legible, and should be no smaller than 10-point font.
Regards,
Yannick Griep, University of Calgary
Samantha K. Jones, University of Calgary
Tim Vantilborgh, Vrije Universiteit Brussel