A Study Of The Relationship Between Psychological Contract Violation And Word Of Mouth Communication In Internet Transaction

Psychological contract theory has been investigated in Organizational Behavior for a long time. In recent years, based on the rapid development and vast potentials of online shopping in China, some scholars found that Psychological contract also exists in the internet marketing environment. Satisfying psychological contract may not always bring the best outcome, but psychological contract violation always has some connection with negative effect. Also psychological contract violation occurs with high frequency. Therefore, it is very important to explore the consequences of psychological contract violation, and take appropriate measures, so as to promote the retail development in the context of the internet shopping.In the context of online shopping, word of mouth information has important effect on consumers'decision-making in purchasing. Nowadays, enterprises pay more attention to the relations with customers. Then, whether the violation of psychological contract between customers and enterprises will affect the 4vord of mouth communication; and whether a moderating variable exists between psychological contract violation and negative IWOM as to weaken the negative effect. This needs further discussions with the evidence.In this research, we used 261 valid questionnaires to test the theoretical hypothesis. The empirical research results showed:(1) psychological contract violation can increase the intensity level of IWOM communications; (2) The two dimensions of psychological contract violation have significant effect on negative IWOM communication, but they are different;(3) Transactional psychological contract violation has negative effect on positive IWOM. The relationship between relational psychological contract violation and positive IWOM was not significant; (4) The results showed that past satisfaction of online shopping has negative moderating effect on the relationship between transactional psychological contract and negative IWOM, but this moderating effect doesn't exist between relational psychological contract and negative IWOM. This result is not only an important supplement and innovation for the existing theory, but also provides a practical reference for the network business. Finally, the article suggests that merchants should make full use of psychological contract to enhance customer relationship management and strengthen the management of negative word of mouth.