How Does Psychological Contract Breach Affect Employee Silence? A Moderated Mediation Model

Psychological contract breach is widespread at work and is a major cause of employee silence. This study presents organizational identity and emotional exhaustion variables and creates a model to explain the mechanism of the effect of psychological contract breach on employee silence based on the cognitive-affective system theory of personality. The model is empirically examined using the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach, with 247 grassroots employees of the company as the research subjects. The main findings are as follows: psychological contract breach has a positive effect on employee silence; psychological contract breach can indirectly contribute to employee silence by decreasing organizational identity and increasing emotional exhaustion, respectively; optimism not only weakens the negative effect of psychological contract breach on organizational identity, but also weakens the positive effect of psychological contract breach on emotional exhaustion; furthermore, optimism negatively moderates the mediating effect of organizational identity and emotional exhaustion on the relationship between psychological contract breach and employee silence. This study enriches the research on the formation, triggering mechanisms, and boundary conditions of employee silence in the Chinese context. The findings contribute to the understanding of employee silencing behavior in Chinese companies from the perspective of employee emotions and organizational identity.