| Most investigations of the psychological contract assume that contracts exist between employees and their organization (or employer). Yet, who or what constitutes the organization is not always clear (Guest, 1998). Here we considered two distinct sources of psychological contract breach, the organization and the supervisor, and we argue that assignment of blame plays a critical role in shaping employees' reactions to breach. Data were collected from a sample of active duty military recruiters and their supervisors from each of the five Armed Forces Services. Structural equations analyses revealed that assigning blame to the organization for psychological contract breach was related to employee responses targeted at the organization, whereas assigning blame to the supervisor was related to employee responses targeted at both the supervisor and the organization. The findings highlight the importance of identifying the organization and the supervisor as separate parties to the psychological contract. |
