The Moderating Role of Locus of Causality in the Relationship Between Source of Information and Psychological Contract Breach Perceptions

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of information-seeking behaviors on the relationship between personality and psychological contract (PC) breach. Approach This study takes an interactionist (person × situation) perspective to examine how PC breach can be reduced in organizations. Survey data were obtained from 184 graduate students from psychology departments across the United States on variables related to personality, information-seeking behaviors, and PC breach. Findings Results indicated that external locus of causality (LoCa) is positively associated with PC breach, while information seeking from supervisors is negatively associated with breach. From an interactionist perspective, the positive association of external LoCa attribution style with breach was lessened as information seeking from supervisors increased, but heightened for participants who obtained information from peers, but not supervisors. Implications Such knowledge can potentially be used to help inform norm-setting strategies of organizations to possibly reduce the unwanted negative effects of PC breach. Originality This finding helps advance our theoretic understanding of the intersection between individual differences and situations and is the first study to examine interactions between LoCa and information sources with respect to PC breach.