Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management

satisfaction, reduced organizational citizenship behavior, and an increased turn-
over intention and actual staVturnover (see Conway and Briner 2005 for a review).
It is important to bear in mind that if breach is associated with negative outcomes,
then fulWllment of promises, which, as we have seen, is associated with greater
numbers of HR practices, leads to positive outcomes (see, for example, Turnley et al.
2003 ).
While these outcomes are of interest from a worker’s perspective, with the
exception of job satisfaction, they are likely to be of more concern to the organ-
ization. Very few studies have actually considered outcomes associated with work-
ers’ well-being. In their review of all the published studies concerned with breach
and violation of the psychological contract, Conway and Briner ( 2005 ) couldWnd
only two concerned with well-being, both by themselves (Conway and Briner
2002 a, 2002 b). These found that violation of the psychological contract was
associated with poorer moods and feelings of reduced well-being. However, there
is relevant data in the surveys by Guest and Conway ( 2002 a, 2004 a) using the
analytic framework set out in Fig. 7. 1. Based each year on a sample of 1 , 000 workers
broadly representative of the UK working population with respect to age, gender,
and occupational status, a core set of questions covered experience of human
resource practices, the psychological contract, and outcomes such as satisfaction,
stress at work, and aspects of well-being, life satisfaction, and work–life balance.
After controlling for other factors, greater experience of human resource prac-
tices is associated with a greater number of reported promises and a higher level of
reported fulWllment of promises in the psychological contract. There is a direct

Contextual and

background

factors

Policy and

practice

State of the

psychological

contract

Outcomes

Individual:

Age

Gender

Education

Level in organization

Type of work

Hours worked

Employment contract

Ethnicity

Tenure

Income

Organizational:

Sector

Size

Ownership

Business strategy

Union recognition

HR policy

and

practices

Direct

participation

Employment

relations

Delivery of

the deal

Fairness

Trust

Attitudinal

consequences:

Organizational

commitment

Work satisfaction

Work-life balance

Job security

Motivation

Stress

Behavioral consequences:

Attendance

Intention to stay/quit

Job performance

Organizational citizenship behaviors

Psychological

contract

Reciprocal

promises,

inducements,

and obligations

Fig. 7.1. A framework for the analysis of the psychological contract

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