Addressing Gaps and Advancing Scholarship in the Study of Psychological Contracts: Charting Directions for a New Research Era

This book acknowledges the significant changes in the context and contours of the traditional employee-employer relationship over the last several decades and highlights the emergence of exciting new directions for the study of psychological contracts (PC).

New technologies and emergent forms of work are extending ’the temporal and spatial boundaries’ of employment, such as through the rise of the shared economy and ’gig’ workers, uptake of virtual work and flexible work arrangements, and the use of off-site co-working spaces. Technology use now permeates many aspects of jobs, supported by artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. Factors that motivate work are also changing as new generations of employees embrace their callings and organizations increasingly recognize their responsibilities to society and to employee wellbeing. These changes are altering the traditional employer-employee relationship and are key motivators of this volume. The chapters in this volume chart new directions for PC research over the next decade by widening the theoretical and methodological lenses used to explore PC processes.

This book will be valuable to advanced students, researchers, and practitioners in organizational psychology, organization studies, workplace training and human resource management, as well as those interested in improved performance of people and organizations. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology.

Sarah Bankins is Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Sarah’s research focuses on the future of work and the use of AI in different contexts. Her research is interdisciplinary, and she works with colleagues in fields like computer science/machine learning, philosophy, economics, organizational psychology, and management.

Yannick Griep is Associate Professor at the Behavioural Science Institute at Radboud University and an Extraordinary Full Professor at North-West University. His research focuses on temporal dynamics associated with psychological contract breaches and how these dynamics influence employees’ propensity to engage in dysfunctional behavior, akin to health and well-being at work.

Samantha D. Hansen is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management in the Department of Management at University of Toronto-Scarborough, with a cross-appointment to the Rotman School of Management. Her primary research interest concerns the employee-employer relationship.