Employee perceptions of psychological contracts were explored in a mixed methods
design project. Although psychological contract research has been popular since its inception
over 50 years ago, the field makes a number of assumptions about how employees truly
experience psychological contracts (Conway & Briner, 2009). The primary goal of the
present research was to identify how psychological contracts should be measured and
theorized to reflect the natural experiences and language of employees. In Study 1, I
examined a number of the theory’s assumptions by asking employees in interviews about
their psychological contract experiences. A descriptive phenomenological approach allowed
me to best capture the real life contexts through the eyes of the employees. The interviews
involved discussions about employees’ perceived legal contract perceptions, the existence of
psychological contracts, and the nature of their psychological contract experiences, if one
existed. Interview findings revealed that while some psychological contract theory
assumptions were supported (e.g., psychological contracts are perceived to evolve), others
were not (e.g., universality of psychological contracts). The interview findings also identified
the natural terminology used by employees, thus informing how psychological contracts
should be measured.
In Study 2, I used Study 1 findings to develop and test a revised feature-based
measure of psychological contracts. I also further expanded Study 1 findings by quantifying
the prevalence of and preference for psychological contracts, and their implications on
organizational commitment, employee engagement, and turnover intentions. As predicted,
those who did perceive a psychological contract were more likely to score high on
commitment and engagement ratings, compared to those who did not. Contrary to
predictions, there were no significant group differences for turnover intentions and contract