The psychological, normative and social contract experience: a mixed method approach

Abstract

The psychological contract is increasingly regarded as a critical framework to manage and understand what employees expect from an organisation to meet a large number of wide-ranging obligations as part of the employment relationship. The social context of the employment relationship is seen as social contracts that are cultural, based on shared collective beliefs regarding appropriate behaviour in society, and includes norms of reciprocity. Normative contracts exist in the workplace where many members identify themselves in similar ways and with one another. The aim of this study is to explore the normative and social contracts’ link with the psychological contract and to use this information to identify substantiated themes. A qualitative approach was applied to discover and gather data regarding the expectations of employees within the framework of normative and social contracts. Expectations and obligations not being met by the employer cause employees to feel dissatisfied with their employment relationship. This indicates that psychological contract breach emerges when employees are influenced by the normative and social contract, causing employees to perceive that the employer had failed to fulfil expectations and obligations.