The Role of Perceived Violation in Determining Employees' Reactions to Psychological Contract Breach

Using a racially diverse sample of 234 professional employees, the research presented in this paper investigated the impact of psychological contract breach and psychological contract violation on several work outcomes. Specifically, the research examined psychological contract violation as the key intervening (mediating) variable between psychological contract breach and various employee attitudes and behaviors. The results suggest that psychological contract breach is positively related to intent to quit, negatively related to professional commitment, and negatively related to employees' in-role and extra-role work performance. Moreover, psychological contract violation fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and intent to quit and professional commitment.