The psychological contracts of university professional staff: expectations, obligations and benefits

ABSTRACT

The psychological contract shapes people’s perceptions and behaviours in the workplace through how people perceive and react to feedback from their environment. Little research has been carried out on the psychological contracts of university professional staff and this oversight is particularly problematic due to the impact that the psychological contract has on employee wellbeing and performance. An online survey instrument was utilised incorporating previously validated measures of psychological contract breach, satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. 226 responses to the survey were analysed through a hierarchical linear regression analysis. This research finds that the psychological contract and psychological contract breach can be conceptualised as either contemporary or traditional, incorporating elements from those career orientations. This article concludes that psychological contract expectations of contemporary career factors are one of the most important predictor variables of psychological contract breach alongside satisfaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychological contract
• psychological contract breach
• careers
• university professional staff

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle Gander

Dr Michelle Gander is Dean (People & Resources) and an Associate Professor, Sociology at Flinders University in Adelaide. Her research interests are in career management, gender, leadership, learning and development and strategic HRM. She is a Fellow of the HEA and ATEM and a Chartered Fellow of IML.