When the nature of employment matters in the employment relationship:
A cluster analysis of psychological contracts and organizational
commitment in the non-profit sector
McDermott, Aoife M., Heffernan, MargaretORCID: 0000-0002-7299-867X and Beynon, Malcolm J.
(2012)
When the nature of employment matters in the employment relationship:
A cluster analysis of psychological contracts and organizational
commitment in the non-profit sector.
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24
(7).
pp. 1490-1518.
ISSN 0958-5192
This paper investigates the relationship between psychological contracts, organizational
commitment and employment characteristics among paid employees in a non-profit
organization. This is an empirically neglected workforce group. Using fuzzy c-means
clustering, our analysis establishes three clusters of employees based on their psychological
contract perceptions. Subsequent validation shows that the clusters display different levels of
organizational commitment, based on an aggregated commitment measure and three singleitem measures pertaining to Loyalty, Values and Effort. In addition, the clusters are
differentiated by their demographic profiles, particularly regarding the work role and type of
employment contract held.
Although prior psychological contract research has considered the impact of
employment status (full-time, part-time and temporary), little attention has been afforded to the
nature of the work role undertaken, and its implications for the psychological contract. Our
exploratory cluster analysis explicates the need for further role-related research in the nonprofit sector and beyond. Potential role-related factors underpinning the differential
management of employees in the non-profit sector and other work contexts are discussed. The
importance of further research into the impact of the nature of the work role on psychological
contract expectations is identified.