A Multi-Level Investigation of Psychological Contract Breach and Organizational Identification through the Lens of Perceived Organizational Membership : Testing a Moderated-Mediated Model

Drawing on the perceived organizational membership theoretical framework and the social identity view of dissonance theory, the present study examined the dynamics of the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification. Group-level transformational and transactional leadership as well as procedural justice climate were included in the hypothesized model as key antecedents for organizational membership processes. The mediating role of psychological contract breach in the relationship between leadership, procedural justice climate and organizational identification was further explored and separateness-connectedness self-schema was proposed as an important moderator of the above mediated relationship. Hierarchical linear modeling results from a sample of 864 employees from 162 work units in 10 Greek organizations indicated that employees’ perception of psychological contract breach negatively affected their organizational identification. Psychological contract breach was also found to mediate the impact of transformational and transactional leadership on organizational identification. Results further provided support for moderated mediation and showed that the indirect effects of transformational and transactional leadership on identification through psychological contract breach were stronger for employees with a low connectedness self-schema