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Same words, different worlds: Exploring differences in researcher and participant understandings of promise and obligation in the psychological contract

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2018

Guoxin Ma Open the ORCID record for Guoxin Ma [Opens in a new window] ,
John Blenkinsopp  and
Steve Armstrong
Guoxin Ma*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Management, School of Business Administration, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu, Anhui, 233030, China
John Blenkinsopp
Affiliation:
Professor of Management, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, United Kingdom
Steve Armstrong
Affiliation:
Professor of Organizational Behavior, Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: mgxb1314@163.com
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Abstract

This paper addresses longstanding questions about how promise and obligation, two of the key conceptual building blocks for psychological contract research, are conceptualized and operationalized: How do employees understand these concepts? Would their understandings be congruent with the researchers’ and how would this knowledge inform future psychological contract research? Drawing on interviews with 61 Chinese workers from diverse backgrounds, our results suggest the concepts have distinct meanings for participants in terms of three criteria (defining characteristics, key features and manifestations in employment). We argue that promise and obligation are likely to serve different functions in employment relationship and have different meanings for researchers versus participants, and accordingly we highlight the challenges of using them to conceptualize and operationalize psychological contracts in China and beyond.

Keywords

psychological contractChinaqualitativepromiseobligation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 95 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2018

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