CHANGING OBLIGATIONS AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

In an exploratory longitudinal study of business school alumni, we inv estigated changes in employment obligations as perceived by employees. During the first two years of employment, employees came to perceive that they awed less to their employers while seeing their employers as owing them more. An employer's failure to fulfill its commitments was found to be significantly associated with decline in some types of em ployee obligations. We discuss implications for managing employees' be liefs regarding obligations and for future research on psychological c ontracts.