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Psychological contracts and innovative behavior: a moderated path analysis of work engagement and job resources
Author(s) -
Chang HuoTsan,
Hsu HungMing,
Liou JiaWen,
Tsai ChiTung
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12165
Subject(s) - psychological contract , work engagement , psychology , path analysis (statistics) , transactional leadership , social psychology , test (biology) , work (physics) , structural equation modeling , mechanical engineering , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , engineering , biology
This study explored the relationships between psychological contract types and innovative behavior. We focused on the mediating effect of work engagement and the moderating effect of job resources (organizational and social resources). Participants were 267 dyads of research and development engineers and their supervisors from 30 high‐tech companies. Moderated path analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings showed that: (a) work engagement fully mediated the negative relationship between transactional contracts and innovative behavior; in addition, it also fully mediated the positive relationship between relational contracts and innovative behavior; and (b) job resources attenuated the former and strengthened the latter mediating effects. These findings contribute to understanding how, why, and when psychological contract types lead to innovative behavior via work engagement.