Exploring the consequences of the financial crisis on employment relationships in Greece

Exploring the consequences of the financial crisis on employment

relationships in Greece

Ioannis Nikolaou

Centre of Research in Organizational Behavior & Leadership Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece

http://about.me/nikolaou

Research Framework

• The fear of unemployment

– Job insecurity

• The role of HRM

– Perceived organizational support

• Their impact on employment relationships

– Psychological Contract

– Psychological contract breach and violation

Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

Study 1. Psychological contract, job insecurity and the role of perceived organizational support

Hypotheses

• H1: Experiences of organizational change are associated with breach/violation, job insecurity, job satisfaction and psychological well-being

• H2: Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with job satisfaction

• H3: Psychological well-being is associated with job insecurity (Job insecurity climate hypothesis)

• H4: POS will mediate the relationship between job insecurity and well being/job satisfaction (HR hypothesis)

Sample - Measures

• A cross-sectional survey across organizations – Sample: N=301 working individuals

• Measures: • Experiences of organizational change (a: .77)

• Psychological contract breach (a: .92)

• Psychological contract violation (a: .96)

• Job insecurity (a: .85)

• Perceived organizational support (a: .78)

• Employee satisfaction (single item)

• Psychological well-being (a: .87)


Inter-correlation matrix

Main Findings

• Experiences of organizational change are associated with psychological contract breach and feelings of violation, increased job insecurity and reduced employee satisfaction (H1 confirmed) but not with psychological well-being.

• Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with job satisfaction (H2 confirmed)

• Job insecurity is the strongest predictor (than experiences of organizational change, psychological contract breach and violation) of psychological well-being job insecurity climate (H3 confirmed)

• Perceived organizational support partially mediates the relationship between job insecurity and psychological well-being and between job insecurity and employee satisfaction HR Hypothesis (H4 confirmed)

Conclusion: The impact of job insecurity on employee well-being and the usefulness of perceived organizational support in order to deal with job insecurity climate

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Study 2. Following a multi-level perspective

Hypotheses

• H1: Experiences of organizational change are associated with breach/violation, job insecurity, job satisfaction

• H2: Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with job satisfaction

• H3: Supervisor’s psychological contract breach and feelings of violation are positively associated with subordinates’ breach and violation

• H4: Both employees and supervisors will perceive POS the same way

• H5: Experiences of change will mediate the relationship between supervisors’ POS and employees Ψ contract fulfilment

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Sample - Measures

• Matched sample: N=205 employees & N=100 supervisors from various banks – Measures:

• Experiences of organizational change (supervisors’ a: .84)

• Psychological contract breach (employees’ a: .85/supervisors’ a: .89)

• Psychological contract violation (employees’ a: .92/supervisors’ a: .94)

• Psychological contract fulfilment (employees’ a: .71/supervisors’ a: .80)

• Perceived organizational support (employees’ a: .82/supervisors’ a: .85)

• Job insecurity (employees’ a: .84/supervisors’ a: .89/supervisors’ a: .91)

• Employee satisfaction (single item)


Main Findings

• Supervisor’s psychological contract breach and feelings of violation are positively associated with subordinates’ (H3 confirmed)

• Employee’s perceived organization support is positively associated with supervisors’ perceived organizational support (H4 confirmed)

• Experiences of organizational change mediate the relationship between supervisors’ perceived organizational support and employees’ psychological contract fulfilment (H5 conf.)

Conclusion: Interaction between employees’ and supervisors’ Ψ contract and the role of experiences of organizational change

• Experiences of organizational change are associated with psychological contract breach and feelings of violation and with increased job insecurity, reduced employee in both samples (H1 confirmed)

• Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with job satisfaction in both samples (H2 confirmed)

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Study 3. The role of individual characteristics (resilience and core-self evaluations)

Hypotheses

• H1: Experiences of organizational change are associated with breach/violation, job insecurity, organizational commitment and turnover intentions

• H2: Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with organizational commitment

• H3: CSEs is positively associated with resilience and negatively with job insecurity and resilience is also negatively associated with job insecurity

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Sample - Measures

• Sample: N=115 M&S employees (76% response) – 32% with managerial responsibilities

• Measures: – Core-Self evaluations (a: .74)

– Resilience (a: .88)

– Experiences of organizational change (a: .75)

– Psychological contract breach (a: .89)

– Psychological contract violation (a: .92)

– Job insecurity (a: .80)

– Organizational commitment (a: .77)

– Turnover intentions (a: .70)


Inter-correlation matrix

Main Findings

• CSEs is positively associated with resilience and negatively with job insecurity and resilience is also negatively associated with job insecurity (H3 confirmed)

• Feelings of violation is the strongest predictor of turnover intentions/commitment compared to experiences of organizational change and breach Lack of trust

Conclusion: Previous change history and Ψ contract violation have a major impact on employees’ attitudes.

• Experiences of organizational change are associated with breach/violation, turnover intentions but not with job insecurity, organizational commitment, even when controlling for resilience and CSEs Lack of trust (H1 part. conf)

• Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with organizational commitment (H2 confirmed)

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General discussion

• Very high levels of psychological contract breach and violation; employees feel betrayed and insecure

• The strong impact of job insecurity climate

• HRDs can have a strong impact (through POS)

• Small effects of individual characteristics (CSEs-resilience)


Exploring the consequences of the financial crisis on employment

relationships in Greece

Ioannis Nikolaou

Centre of Research in Organizational Behavior & Leadership Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece

http://about.me/nikolaou