Climbing the Ladder of Performance: Are Psychological Contract and Organizational Commitment Steps?

Abstract

Low attrition and high job security in public organizations make the risk low for consequences of performing poorly. Climbing the ladder of job performance, what are the steps that should be in mind? The effects of fulfillment of the psychological contract and of affective organizational commitment on job performance were examined in a longitudinal study with employees and their line managers in a Brazilian public sector agency. We tested three models of mediation, aiming to better explain variance in job performance. This research design with employees and their bosses (N = 202) relieves common method bias and demonstrates in a robust and unique way, through a study carried out over two years, the effects of the fulfillment of the psychological contract on in-role job performance as well as the role of organizational commitment in this process. We found that fulfillment of the psychological contract explained variance in job performance, while commitment did not. However, the addition of organizational commitment as a mediating variable increased the explanatory power of the psychological contract. In our metaphor, psychological contract would be a significant step on the ladder, while commitment would be the difference in how much an individual can stretch his/her arms to reach the best job performance.

The Impact of Network Embeddedness on the Innovation Performance of New Generation of Employees in the Post-COVID-19 Era—The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract

“…This finding is consistent with that in Kraak and Altman (2016). The psychological contract directly affects innovation performance, consistent with Kiazad et al (2018) and Maia and Bastos (2019). Network embeddedness has a significant direct effect on innovation performance, consistent with Tolstoy and Agndal (2010) and Shipley et al (2013).…”

“…The perception of unfulfilled expectations (psychological contract breach) adversely affects employees’ perceived organizational support, which in turn affects employees’ work outcome ( Gupta et al, 2016 ). Psychological contract would be a significant step on the ladder of job performance ( Maia and Bastos, 2019 ). Both transactional and relational psychological contract fulfillment can directly affect employees’ task performance ( Liu et al, 2020 ).…”

“…First, from an organizational perspective, scholars have studied leadership styles and methods ( Kundu et al, 2019 ; Shafique et al, 2020 ), organizational support ( Elsouk et al, 2021 ), management incentives ( Wang et al, 2018 ), innovation atmosphere ( Vessey et al, 2014 ), organizational environment ( Lee et al, 2011 ; Kalyar et al, 2020 ) and other influencing factors. Second, from the perspective of the individual level, scholars have studied individual characteristics ( Robbins, 2013 ), motivation ( Twenge et al, 2010 ; Schoen, 2015 ), emotions ( Lin et al, 2014 ), psychology ( Erhan and Mustafa, 2018 ; Maia and Bastos, 2019 ) and other influencing factors. In addition to the factors of individuals and organizations, a new research perspective of social capital and network embeddedness has emerged in recent years to explore the impact of social interactions in complex and profound social networks on the innovation performance of organizations and their employees.…”

The Psychological Contract and Employee Job Performance: The Role of Employee Involvement

“…In a study conducted by Tsui et al (2013) studied about the psychological contract and organisational commitment on employee performance, Nwokocha (2015) looked at the psychological contract and employee performance with employee retention as the mediating variable. Kiazad et al (2019), studied how the psychological contract fulfilment leads to employee extra role behaviour and Maia & Bastos (2019) studied psychological contract and organisational commitment. Eyoun et al (2020), looked at the relationship between psychological contract and performance appraisal with generation difference as the mediator and Sachdeva (2020), studied the effect of the psychological contract on employee performance.…”

Scholar’s Online Organizational Engagement and its Consequences for Higher Education Sustainability

“…The scientific literature has not yet provided a universally acknowledged definition of the concept of psychological contract. This concept is highly complex, but the perception between employee-employer obligations is always a common platform (Burch, Batchelor, Burch, & Heller, 2015;Eichler, Lemos, & Neves, 2019;Guerrero, 2005;Jafri, 2014;Larkin & Neumann, 2012;Maia & Bastos, 2019;Mittal & Mishra, 2017;Nutakki et al, 2015;O'Toole & Prince, 2015;Peirce et al, 2012;Richard, McMillan-Capehart, Bhuian, & Taylor, 2009;Rios & Gondim, 2010;Smithson & Lewis, 2004;Swepresad et al, 2019;Tavares, 2006;Tipples et al, 2007).…”