When psychological contract violation inhibits affiliative and challenging behaviors: the roles of supervisor-subordinate guanxi and job control

The present research sought to simultaneously examine across two field studies the effects of psychological contract violation on both affiliative and challenging forms of organizational citizenship behaviors, and, more critically, to explore how these effects varied as a function of a non-work exchange relationship factor (i.e., supervisor-subordinate guanxi) and/or a work context factor (i.e., job control). In Study 1, we found that psychological contract violation was negatively related to both helping and taking charge. Moreover, high levels of supervisor-subordinate guanxi weakened the relations of psychological contract violation with both helping and taking charge, whereas high levels of job control strengthened the relation of psychological contract violation with taking charge. These findings were largely replicated in Study 2 when using conscientiousness and voice as exemplars of affiliative and challenging behaviors, respectively. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our key findings.