Idiosyncratic Deals and High Performers' Organizational Commitment

• Published in: Journal of business and psychology 2014-06, Vol.29 (2), p.323-334
• Main Authors: Guerrero, Sylvie, Bentein, Kathleen, Lapalme, Marie-Ève
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attachment behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Business and Management; Cognitive psychology; Commitments; Community and Environmental Psychology; Contract breaches; Contract negotiations; Editorial Notes; Employees; Employers; Employment; Hypotheses; Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Organizational behavior; Organizational psychology; Personality and Social Psychology; Psychological research; Psychology; Retention; Social exchange theory; Social psychology; Social Sciences; Studies; Supervisors; Trust
• ISSN: 0889-3268; 1573-353X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10869-013-9316-7

Purpose We argue that idiosyncratic deals (or i-deals), as objective conditions in employment arrangements that employees negotiate with their employer to meet particular individual needs, attenuate the indirect negative effect of a psychological contract breach on affective commitment via trust. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted via a questionnaire sent to high performers working at the director level of a large Canadian company. These employees were in a privileged position to bargain i-deals for themselves (n = 136). Findings We used models of mediated moderation to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate that trust fully mediates the relationship between psychological contract breach and affective commitment of high performers. This relationship is moderated by i-deals, such that the relationship is weaker when i-deals are high. Implications This study provides a deeper understanding of the theoretical mechanisms explaining how i-deals compensate for breaches in the employment relationship. We show that i-deals do not prevent the loss of trust following a breach, but compensate for it in maintaining the bond between high performers and their organization. Originality/value This study explores the role of i-deals for a population traditionally well treated by organizations because of their status of stars: high-performing directors. In contrast with previous research that conceptualizes i-deals as building trust, this study shows that i-deals may act as substitutes for trust, in maintaining a bond with the organization in a context of trust loss.