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Psychological Contracts and Employee Health

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Handbook on Management and Employment Practices

Part of the book series: Handbook Series in Occupational Health Sciences ((HDBSOHS,volume 3))

Abstract

The primary thrust of psychological contract (PC) research has focused on employees’ outward directed responses when they experience contract breach and violation. These responses have been primarily directed at the organization as the source of the psychological contract breach. In doing so, the inward-focused consequences of breach on employees’ health have been relegated to the sidelines. We place the spotlight on the health consequences of psychological contracts and, in particular, employees’ experience of contract breach and violation. In this chapter, we begin with a brief review of the conceptualization of psychological contracts and examine the theoretical links between psychological contracts and health. We present the emerging empirical evidence on the deleterious effects of breach and violation on employee health. We review potential moderators that may strengthen or weaken the effects of contract breach/violation on health. Given that contract breach occurs regularly, how do individuals cope post-breach and what are the effects on their health? Finally, we outline a number of avenues for future research to advance knowledge on the relationship between psychological contracts and employee health.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, London School of Economics, London, UK

    Jacqueline A-M Coyle-Shapiro

  2. Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA, USA

    Jacqueline A-M Coyle-Shapiro

  3. ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL), Lisbon, Portugal

    Sandra Costa

  4. International Business School Suzhou (IBSS), Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China

    Chiachi Chang

Authors
  1. Jacqueline A-M Coyle-Shapiro
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  2. Sandra Costa
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  3. Chiachi Chang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacqueline A-M Coyle-Shapiro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Paula Brough

  2. School of Management QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Elliroma Gardiner

  3. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Kevin Daniels

Section Editor information

  1. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Kevin Daniels

  2. School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Paula Brough PhD

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Coyle-Shapiro, J.AM., Costa, S., Chang, C. (2022). Psychological Contracts and Employee Health. In: Brough, P., Gardiner, E., Daniels, K. (eds) Handbook on Management and Employment Practices. Handbook Series in Occupational Health Sciences, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29010-8_12

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