The Dark Side of Psychological Contracts

There is a dark side to the psychological contract that exists between employers and employees. This dark side is demonstrated by how corporations use a positive reputation to close their job openings when the companies’ leadership and management already know the organization functions with a toxic organizational culture. A catfish is a corporation or person who pretends to be someone or something that they are not in person or online. A catfish might use, for example, a misleading reputation or other information to make applicants or candidates believe false information about the organizational quality’s conduciveness to psychological safety when in fact, the environment is not psychologically safe. Corporations, leaders, and managers catfish applicants and candidates for several reasons. While some corporations, leaders, and managers catfish for money, many other corporations, leaders, and managers do it for moral goodness. Catfishing applicants and candidates can hold diverse consequences on corporations and stakeholders, and the findings show that corporations have become comfortable with this type of dishonesty, even though it can hurt applicants, candidates, and employees. This research provides a necessary explanation for what is partially sustaining the Great Resignation. Companies use their reputation to attract applicants, but sometimes they lie about what the job is like or what the company is like. This is called employer catfishing. To prevent employer catfishing, the researchers suggested adopting legislation that would force employers to be honest about hiring and onboarding because catfishing, Dark Triad, PC, and reputation influence applicants’ and candidates’ employment decisions