The Psychological Contract: The Development and Validation of a Managerial Measure
type: CreativeWork
description: The research objective was to develop, through two phases involving development and validation, a measure of the psychological work contract for managerial level employees. The psychological contract is the unwritten implicit contract that forms in the minds of employees and contains the obligations and expectations that they believe exists between themselves and the organization. In the first and qualitative phase of the study, a structured interview procedure resulted in the collection of 651 responses from a convenience sample of 35 managers from seven New Zealand organizations. Responses related to what these managers believed they were obligated to provide the organization (perceived organizational expectations), and what they believed the organization was obligated to provide them (their expectations). Content analysis of these 651 statements resulted in the development of two initial measures of the psychological contract (employee obligations, organization obligations). The employee obligations measure (perceived organizational expectations of the employee) contained 16 items, and the organization obligations measure (employee expectations of the organization) contained 23 items. In the second and quantitative phase of the study, and using the same criteria for participation as for phase one, a convenience sample of 124 managers from 13 New Zealand organizations completed questionnaires. The questionnaires included the measures of psychological contract content developed in phase one of the study, and 8 organizational psychology variables to be included in a nomological network. The nomological network included intention to quit, perceived organizational support, work and job involvement, job satisfaction, career plateau, organizational commitment, person-organization fit, and 2 performance measures. A separate questionnaire covering job performance and organizational citizenship behaviour was completed by 94 of the participants' managers. Of the 54 relation…
abstract: The research objective was to develop, through two phases involving development and validation, a measure of the psychological work contract for managerial level employees. The psychological contract is the unwritten implicit contract that forms in the minds of employees and contains the obligations and expectations that they believe exists between themselves and the organization. In the first and qualitative phase of the study, a structured interview procedure resulted in the collection of 651 responses from a convenience sample of 35 managers from seven New Zealand organizations. Responses related to what these managers believed they were obligated to provide the organization (perceived organizational expectations), and what they believed the organization was obligated to provide them (their expectations). Content analysis of these 651 statements resulted in the development of two initial measures of the psychological contract (employee obligations, organization obligations). The employee obligations measure (perceived organizational expectations of the employee) contained 16 items, and the organization obligations measure (employee expectations of the organization) contained 23 items. In the second and quantitative phase of the study, and using the same criteria for participation as for phase one, a convenience sample of 124 managers from 13 New Zealand organizations completed questionnaires. The questionnaires included the measures of psychological contract content developed in phase one of the study, and 8 organizational psychology variables to be included in a nomological network. The nomological network included intention to quit, perceived organizational support, work and job involvement, job satisfaction, career plateau, organizational commitment, person-organization fit, and 2 performance measures. A separate questionnaire covering job performance and organizational citizenship behaviour was completed by 94 of the participants' managers. Of the 54 relation…
author: Cable, Donald Alfred James
keywords: psychological contract, construct validation, nomological network, job performance, organizational citizenship behavior, intention to quit, perceived organizational support, work and job involvement, job satisfaction, career plateau, organizational commitment, person-organization fit
date published: 2008
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:33Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato