Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of the psychological contract (PC) simultaneously at the individual level (fulfillment of obligations by the organization and PC violation) and the organizational level (normative contract), and their relationship with employees’ evaluations of organizational justice. Based on justice and information processing approaches, the hypothesis is that normative contract has an effect on employees’ perceptions of organizational justice, and also moderates the relationship between PC violation and organizational justice. Design/methodology/approach Multilevel modeling was employed with a multinational sample of 5,338 employees nested in 214 companies. Findings Findings showed that beyond the positive effect of fulfillment of obligations by the organization, PC violation has a strong negative effect on organizational justice. In addition, normative contract has a positive effect on organizational justice, showing that when shared perceptions of normative contract are higher, then the organizational justice perceptions of employees are also higher. Furthermore, the normative contract moderated the relationship between PC violation and organizational justice, showing that the negative relationship of PC violation with organizational justice was stronger when the normative contract was higher. Practical implications Findings suggest that normative contract has effects on organizational justice, and that PC violation had more negative effects on employees’ perceptions of organizational justice perceptions when colleagues’ shared perceptions of fulfillment were higher. This means that social context (shared perceptions in an organization about the PC) has effects on individual perceptions of organizational justice. Companies need to pay attention to detrimental effects on employees who perceive a worse PC than their colleagues do. Originality/value The study extends the current research by demonstrating that employee–employer exchanges are not limited to individual level effects because shared perceptions of PC fulfillment (normative contract) also have relevant effects on employees’ perceptions of organizational justice.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between employer psychological contract (PC) fulfillment and employee attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intention to leave the organization) by using employees’ perceptions of PC violation and organizational justice as serial mediators. Design/methodology/approach Data from 44 managers and 880 employees from 44 Spanish organizations were analyzed through multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings Results showed that employees’ feelings of PC violation and justice perceptions mediated the relationships between the employers’ PC fulfillment assessed by managers and job satisfaction and organizational commitment assessed by employees. The mediation effect was not significant for employees’ intention to leave the organization. Originality/value This study contributes to understand the process through which PC influences work outcomes, outlining the relevance of organizational justice as social exchange theory and PC theory (Guest, 2004) stated. In addition, present results extend the influence of PC on work outcomes from the individual to the organizational level.

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Psychological contract (PC) has received great theoretical and research interest in the framework of the employment relationship. Although current research has described its consequences using several different perspectives, less attention has been placed on examining how PC develops. The current time‐lagged study tests a model that incorporates three social exchange indicators: employer contract fulfillment, PC violation, and organizational justice. Using a two‐wave survey data from 203 Spanish workers, we test a serial multiple mediation model that identifies the mechanism to explain the reciprocal exchange between the individual and the organization. The results provide evidence that employer contract fulfillment influences employees' contribution in return over time through the sense of PC violation and perceptions of organizational justice.

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