Psychological Contract Breach and Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Reviews

The influence of internship satisfaction and the psychological contract on the career identity behavior of fresh graduates

Introduction

Frequent resignation of young workers brings huge costs to the organizational management of enterprises. The frequent turnover behavior is a sign of low career identity, and exploring the paths that influence career identity behaviors is necessary. Previous studies have found that internship satisfaction and the psychological contract can influence career identity behavior. However, the dimensions of the psychological contract are unclear, and it is uncertain whether internship satisfaction can influence career identity behavior through the different dimensions of the psychological contract. This study attempts to expand the concept of psychological contract and construct a multiple mediation model. It aims to analyze the mediating role of different dimensions of the psychological contract between internship satisfaction and career identity behavior.

Methods

A sample survey was conducted on Chinese fresh graduates by way of the questionnaire survey, and a total of 576 valid questionnaires were collected. Amos 26.0 was used to analyze the data and verify the multiple mediation model.

Results

The results showed that psychological contract can be divided into three dimensions: transactional contract, relational contract, and developmental contract. Internship satisfaction can positively influence career identity behavior via the three dimensions of psychological contract, and there are differences in mediating effects among the dimensions. The mediating effect of developmental contract is the highest, relational contract is the second, and transactional contract is the lowest.

Discussion

This article expands the dimensions of psychological contract, emphasizes the importance of developmental contract, contributes to the literature on organizational psychology, and provides scales and empirical evidence for future research. The analysis points out that fresh graduates with long-term development opportunities often show higher career identity behavior. This provides valuable insights for enhancing career identity behavior, improving career sustainability, and assisting organizations in managing human resource mobility.

Internet Addiction and Academic Anxiety Among Chinese College Students During COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract

Purpose

The objective of this study is to investigate the underlying mechanism connecting internet addiction and academic anxiety, with the aim of assisting higher education professionals and administrators in developing comprehensive solutions to effectively mitigate the systemic risks associated with these issues.

Patients and Methods

This study utilizes the smart data collection instrument of Wenjuanxing to gather data from 270 Chinese college students through an online questionnaire survey. Through building and analyzing a structural equation model that consists of four latent variables, such as internet addiction, relational psychological contract, transactional psychological contract, and academic anxiety. The study analyzed the fundamental characteristics of the transformation mechanism of Internet addiction and academic anxiety. It specifically focused on conducting a mediating effects test of the psychological contract variable to validate the significant role of both relational psychological contract and transactional psychological contract in this transformation mechanism.

Results

First, the study found that internet addiction (β=0.094; p=0.179) cannot directly impact academic anxiety. It can only influence academic anxiety through the mediating effects of the relational psychological contract (β=0.088; p=0.022) and the transactional psychological contract (β=0.123; p=0.003), with the latter having a more significant impact. Second, the destructive effect of Internet addiction on relational psychological contracts (β=-0.496; p<0.001) is greater than that on transactional psychological contracts (β=-0.476; p<0.001). Third, compared to the weakening of the relational psychological contract (β=-0.177; p=0.017), the weakening of the transactional psychological contract (β=-0.258; p=0.001) has a more significant impact on college students' academic anxiety.

Conclusion

This study shows that the weakening of the corresponding psychological contract is the key link for the development of Internet addiction into academic anxiety. Stabilizing the psychological contracts at the psychological level of college students can help suppress the vicious transformation process from internet addiction to academic anxiety, ensuring students' mental health and reducing systemic risks in educational work.