The relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to change during organizational transformations

Abstract

Because of ongoing globalization, changing markets and political developments, the degree of organizational change has increased significantly in the last decades. Organizations value employees who are willing and able to respond positively to change. Trust and social capital, based on fulfilling mutual expectations are important determinants of successful organizational change. The present study investigates the relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to organization-related change. In a sample of 208 employees in ten Dutch organizations, data were gathered using questionnaires. The results showed a significant negative relationship between fulfilment of the organization side of the psychological contract and affective resistance to change. The more the organization had fulfilled its promises in the employee's perception, the less the employee resisted the organizational change. In addition the type of organizational change significantly moderated the relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to change. By maintaining good psychological contracts with employees, organizations can build trust, which could prevent resistance to change. Key words. Fulfilment of the psychological contract -Resistance to change -Type of changeRésumé. Etant donné la mondialisation, l'évolution des marchés et l'évolution politique, le changement organisationnel s'est sensiblement renforcé au cours des dernières décennies. Dans cette perspective, les organisations valorisent les employés qui sont désireux et capables de répondre de façon positive au changement organisationnel. La confiance et le capital social, fondés sur la réalisation des attentes mutuelles, sont à cet égard

Does a Well-Informed Employee Have a More Positive Attitude Toward Change? The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract Fulfillment, Trust, and Perceived Need for Change

“…Later, Van Dam, Oreg, and Schyns (2008) also applied Oreg's (2006) scale, but they analyzed the scale without distinguishing between the three dimensions in their results. Van den Heuvel and Schalk (2009), however, did study the relationship between psychological contract fulfillment and all three dimensions separately. Finally, Chung, Su, and Su (2012) examined the effect of cognitive flexibility on the three-dimensional construct.…”

Effect of psychological capital and resistance to change on organisational citizenship behaviour

“…Because RTC can threaten and undermine organisational change, one important implication of RTC is its significant effect on employees' organisational commitment, job-satisfaction and intention to leave their organisations (Oreg, 2006;Van den Heuvel & Schalk, 2009). Therefore, organisations that evaluate RTC may provide an important point of reference to understand the variables that support organisational change through positive organisational behaviour better (Del Val & Fuentes, 2003).…”

What ' s in it for me? A managerial perspective on the influence of the psychological contract on attitude towards change

“…The question whether certain antecedents are better predictors for affective response to change and others for the behavioral or cognitive responses was not addressed. In a study by Van den Heuvel and Schalk (2009), for example, psychological contract fulfillment was only related to the affective dimension of attitude toward change, disregarding the behavioral and cognitive dimensions. This issue could also be addressed in future research.…”

“…However, this three-dimensional view on employee responses to organizational change introduced by Piderit (2000) has thus far been adopted in only a few empirical studies (see e.g. Oreg, 2006;Van den Heuvel and Schalk, 2009).…”