A study of employee affective organizational commitment and retention in Pakistan: the roles of psychological contract breach and norms of reciprocity

Samina Quratulain, Abdul Karim Khan, Jonathan R. Crawshaw, Ghulam Ali Arain, Imran Hameed

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social exchange theory and notions of reciprocity have long been assumed to explain the relationship between psychological contract breach and important employee outcomes. To date, however, there has been no explicit testing of these assumptions. This research, therefore, explores the mediating role of negative, generalized, and balanced reciprocity, in the relationships between psychological contract breach and employees’ affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions. A survey of 247 Pakistani employees of a large public university was analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping techniques, and provided excellent support for our model. As predicted, psychological contract breach was positively related to negative reciprocity norms and negatively related to generalized and balanced reciprocity norms. Negative and generalized (but not balanced) reciprocity were negatively and positively (respectively) related to employees’ affective organizational commitment and fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and affective organizational commitment. Moreover, affective organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between generalized and negative reciprocity and employees’ turnover intentions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2552-2579
Number of pages28
JournalInternational Journal of Human Resource Management
Volume29
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 25 2018

Keywords

  • Pakistan
  • Psychological contract breach
  • reciprocity norms
  • social exchange

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Strategy and Management
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
  • Management of Technology and Innovation

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