Psychological contracts and intention to leave with mediation effect of organizational commitment and employee satisfaction at times of recession

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the implications of psychological contract on employees’ intention to leave and their relationship with employee commitment and satisfaction. The study focuses on measuring these attributes in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) multicultural workforce. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a total of 373 employees from government, semi-government and private organizations covering different hierarchical levels across various industries. Structural equation modeling was used to test the predicted relationship. Findings The study reveals that the relational component of psychological contracts plays a significant role in developing strong employer–employee relationships and reducing employee intentions to leave the organization. The study has also demonstrated the partial mediation effect of organizational commitment and employee satisfaction between the independent and dependent variables. Finally, our finding stresses the moderating effect of gender and citizenship demographics on the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study was the fact that data collection was conducted in the context of economic crisis which is accompanied by downsizing of organizations. Another factor being the survey is restricted to the UAE which limits the generalizability of the results outside the region. Originality/value As little is known about the potential effect of psychological contracts on the intention to leave in the Middle Eastern context, this paper is expected to provide empirical evidences that will make significant contributions to the employee engagement literature in the Middle Eastern contexts.

Organizational Commitment and Intention to Quit of HR Practitioners: A Study from Indonesia

“…Other studies have also reported a negative relationship between employees' organizational commitment and the intention to quit [6], [8], [56]. Several other studies which investigated the effect of organizational commitment on the intention to quit, reported that organizational commitment is the behavioral indicator of employee's discharge from the company [14], [26].…”

“…Several other studies which investigated the effect of organizational commitment on the intention to quit, reported that organizational commitment is the behavioral indicator of employee's discharge from the company [14], [26]. Some other empirical evidence also reported that organizational commitment has a significant effect on intention to quit [6], [8], [13], [30], [31, [32], [51], [59].…”

“…The high level of organizational commitment can be a way to reduce employee turnover [42]. Organizational commitment research related to intention to quit is mostly done on employees in general or from other professional fields reported a negative relationship between organizational commitment and intention to quit [6], [8], [56].…”

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“…The authors made a proposition that individual, organizational, and environmental factors affect the turnover intention. Behery [36]investigated the effect of relational psychological contract on turnover intention mediated by satisfaction and organizational commitment in UAE's private and public organizations.…”