领导—下属人口统计特征的正向差异对心理契约破裂的作用机制研究

【作者】 张玮；

【导师】 杨永康；

【作者基本信息】 复旦大学 ， 企业管理， 2010， 博士

【摘要】 员工对自身与组织之间的互惠责任的认知构成了心理契约,心理契约是雇用关系的基础,在组织管理活动中发挥重要的作用。然而,目前的各种趋势——重组、缩编、对临时工依赖的增长、人口统计特征的多样化以及来自国外的竞争——对心理契约都产生了深远的影响。首先,这些趋势使得心理契约的内容变得越来越模糊,员工不明白自己与组织之间应该为对方付出什么,因为如今在大多数企业中,作为对工作努力和忠诚的回报的传统保证——工作安全性和收入稳定性——已不复存在；其次,动荡和不确定的现状使得企业很难按照它们对员工的承诺来履行所有的企业责任。在这两方面因素的影响下,目前大多数员工都感到他们的心理契约没有得到充分地履行。随着企业缩编、重组和动荡的持续,将会有越来越多的员工感到企业没有充分履行心理契约的内容,即体会到心理契约破裂。本文最初的目的是探索引起员工心理契约破裂的因素,充分了解心理契约破裂是如何产生的。尽管已有大量关于心理契约的理论和实证研究,可是学者很少关注心理契约破裂的产生过程。然而对这一问题的了解至关重要,因为心理契约破裂的感知会给个人和企业带来严重的影响。研究者发现心理契约破裂会减少员工对企业主的信任、对工作和企业的满意度、对企业的责任感以及留在企业的意愿。通过文献阅读,本文发现尽管领导不是心理契约中的直接主体,然而员工会将领导视作企业的代理人,并且日常工作中领导的评估和决策会影响企业对员工的资源和奖励的分配,因此员工心理契约的形成及履行情况的感知都受其与领导互动过程的影响。而领导和员工的互动行为受到双方人口统计特征差异的影响,大量实证研究发现领导-下属的人口统计特征差异会影响双方的沟通、员工的角色模糊、角色冲突及领导对员工的绩效评估等。基于人口统计特征和心理契约破裂的理论研究,本文重点研究领导-下属人口统计特征的正向差异对心理契约破裂的作用机制,以及对这一作用过程的治理机制。本文致力于回答以下两个主要问题：第一个问题是,领导-下属人口统计特征的正向差异通过怎样的作用机制影响员工心理契约的破裂?本文以“员工绩效评估”代表正面效应,以“角色模糊”代表负面效应,检验这两者是否在“领导-下属人口统计特征的正向差异”与“心理契约破裂”之间起着中介作用。第二个问题是,员工的认知需求特性对于领导-下属人口统计特征的正向差异对心理契约破裂的作用过程存在怎样的调节作用?本文在对以人口统计特征、心理契约破裂和认知需求为研究对象的研究进行文献综述的基础上,构思了本研究的主要研究目标和内容。接着,综合运用相似-吸引理论、自我分类理论、地位不一致理论、社会交换理论、社会信息加工理论提出了理论假设,构建了本研究的研究模型。然后,通过问卷调查的方式来收集样本,分别对研究模型中的中介作用和调节作用假设进行实证检验,对检验结果进行分析和讨论。最后,总结了本文的研究结论、理论贡献、管理实践贡献、研究中的不足以及未来的研究方向。本研究得出的主要结论如下：1.角色模糊和员工绩效评估在领导-下属年龄的正向差异与心理契约破裂之间发挥着部分中介的作用。首先,领导-下属年龄的正向差异通过影响员工的角色模糊,进而对心理契约破裂发挥作用；其次,领导-下属年龄的正向差异通过影响领导对员工的绩效评估,进而对心理契约破裂发挥作用；最后领导-下属年龄的正向差异对心理契约破裂产生直接影响。其中,领导-下属年龄的正向差异对角色模糊和员工绩效评估都存在直接的促进作用,角色模糊对心理契约破裂亦存在促进作用,而领导-下属年龄的正向差异和员工绩效评估对心理契约破裂存在直接的抑制作用。2.角色模糊和员工绩效评估在领导-下属工作年限的正向差异与心理契约破裂之间发挥着完全中介的作用。首先,领导-下属工作年限的正向差异通过影响员工的角色模糊,进而对心理契约破裂发挥作用；其次,领导-下属工作年限的正向差异通过影响领导对员工的绩效评估,进而对心理契约破裂发挥作用。其中,领导-下属工作年限的正向差异与角色模糊和员工绩效评估均存在直接的促进作用,角色模糊对心理契约破裂亦存在促进作用,而员工绩效评估对心理契约破裂存在抑制作用。3.认知需求调节领导-下属在年龄和工作年限上的正向差异与角色模糊、员工绩效评估和心理契约破裂之间的关系。当认知需求高时,领导-下属年龄和工作年限的正向差异与角色模糊的正向关系减弱,领导-下属年龄和工作年限的正向差异与员工绩效评估呈正相关关系,领导-下属年龄和工作年限的正向差异与心理契约破裂呈负相关关系；当认知需求低时,领导-下属年龄的正向差异与员工绩效评估呈负相关关系,领导-下属工作年限的正向差异与员工绩效评估的正相关关系明显减弱,领导-下属工作年限的正向差异与心理契约破裂呈正相关关系。更多还原

【Abstract】 Psychological contracts, made up of employees’beliefs about the reciprocal obligations between them and their organization, lay at the foundation of employment relationships. Yet a variety of trends——restructuring, downsizing, increased reliance on temporary workers, demographic diversity, and foreign competition——are having profound effects on employees’psychological contracts. First, these trends make it increasingly unclear what employees and organizations owe one another, because traditional assurance of job security and steady rewards in return for hard work and loyalty no longer exist in most cases.Second, the state of turbulence and uncertainty makes it difficult for organizations to fulfill all of the obligations that they make to employees. The result of these two factors is a perception on the part of many employees that the terms of their psychological contracts have not been adequately fulfilled. As trends of downsizing, restructuring, and turbulence continue, even more employees will perceive that their organizations have failed to adequately fulfill their psychological contracts. The term that has been used for this belief is psychological contract breach.The initial objective of this paper is to find out the factors that can cause the feeling of psychological contract breach and provide an understanding of psychological contract breach and how it develops. Although there is a growing body of theoretical and empirical research on psychological contracts, scholars have devoted limited attention to the development of contract breach. Yet this is an important issue to understand, because the experience of breach can have serious individual and organizational implications. Researchers have found that breach decreases employees’ trust toward their employers, satisfaction with their jobs and organizations, perceived obligation to their organizations, and intentions to remain. Through the reviews on the literatures, this paper finds that although leaders are not directly party to psychological contracts, employees will view leaders as the agent of organization, and leaders’evaluations and decisions affect the distribution of resources and rewards to employees, thereby the shaping and fulfillment of employees’ psychological contract are influenced by the interaction between leaders and employees, which is affected by the demographic differences between leaders and employees. A large number of empirical studies have found leader-member demographic differences have effect on communications, role ambiguity, role conflict, and performance evaluation. Based on the studies of demography and psychological contract breach, this paper pays attention on the effect mechanisms of leader-member positive demographic differences on psychological contract breach, and governance mechanisms during the effect process. This paper endeavors to answer the following two questions:The first question is through which mechanisms leader-member positive demographic differences affect the employees’psychological contract breach? This paper examines whether employees’performance evaluation and employees’role ambiguity jointly play full mediating roles in the relationship between leader-member positive demographic differences and psychological contract breach. The second question is how need for cognition moderates the positive, negative effects of leader-member positive demographic differences on psychological contract breach?Based on the reviews on the literatures about demography, psychological contract breach, and need for cognition, this paper conceives its major objectives and main contents. After that, this paper formulate several theoretical hypotheses and construct study models through the five lenses of similar-attraction theory, self category theory, status incongruence theory, social exchange theory, and social information processing theory. Then this paper adopts questionnaire method and test sthose hypothesis involving mediating and moderating effects. On the basis of empirical results, this paper finally analyses the results.Finally, this paper illustrates the conclusions, theoretical contributions, managerial implications, possible shortcomings and some future research directions.The main conclusions are listed as follows.1.Role ambiguity and employees’performance evaluation jointly play part mediating roles on the relationship between leader-member positive age differences and psychological contract breach. First, leader-member positive age difference has effect on psychological contract through its effect on employees’ role ambiguity; Second, leader-member positive age difference has effect on psychological contract breach through its effect on employees’ performance evaluation; Finally, leader-member positive age difference has direct effect on psychological contract breach. What’s more, leader-member positive age difference has positive effect on role ambiguity and performance evaluation, and role ambiguity has positive effect on psychological contract breach, while performance evaluation has negative effect on psychological contract breach. 2.Role and employees’ performance evaluation jointly play full mediating roles on the relationship between leader-member positive job tenure differences and psychological contract breach. First, leader-member positive job tenure difference has effect on psychological contract through its effect on employees’ role ambiguity; Second, leader-member positive job tenure difference has effect on psychological contract breach through its effect on employees’performance evaluation. What’s more, leader-member positive job tenure difference has positive effect on role ambiguity and performance evaluation, and role ambiguity has positive effect on psychological contract breach, while performance evaluation has negative effect on psychological contract breach.3.Need for cognition shows the moderating effect on the relationships between leader-member positive age, job tenure differences and role ambiguity, performance evaluation, and psychological contract breach. When need for cognition is high, the positive relationship between leader-member positive age, job tenure differences and role ambiguity becomes weak, the relationship between leader-member positive age, job tenure differences and performance evaluation is positive, the relationship between leader-member positive age difference and psychological contract breach is negative; When need for cognition is low, the relationship between leader-member positive age difference and performance evaluation is negative, the positive relationship between leader-member positive job tenure difference and performance evaluation becomes weak apparently, the relationship between leader-member positive job tenure difference and psychological contract breach is positive.更多还原