A discrepancy model of psychological contract violations

While previous research suggests that employees rarely believe organization s keep all of the commitments made to them, only in some cases do employees perceive these unfulfilled commitments as psychological contract violation s and make active attempts to "get even" with their employers for the betra yal. This paper presents a discrepancy model for understanding when employe es will perceive unfulfilled commitments as psychological contract violatio ns and for understanding when employees will respond in a hostile manner to those violations. Among other factors, the sources of employees' expectati ons, the specific contract elements on which discrepancies occur, and the m agnitude and timing of the unfulfilled commitments are all posited as impor tant contributors to perceptions of psychological contract violations. Then , individual differences, organizational practices, and labor market factor s are examined as important moderators of how strongly employees respond to perceived psychological contract violations. The article concludes with di rections for future theoretical and empirical research on psychological con tract violations and employees' reactions to them.