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Does what happens abroad stay abroad? Displaced aggression and emotional regulation in expatriate psychological contracts

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Benjamin BaderORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).


Abstract

Despite considerable research on psychological contracts, their dynamics in work arrangements with more than two parties are largely unknown. Multi-party work arrangements differ from traditional ones because individuals are vulnerable to unfulfilled psychological contracts by more than one party, potentially directing negative emotional responses not only toward the responsible party but also displacing it to the other (innocent) party. Primary data from a two-wave survey of 221 current expatriates are used to test the effects of displaced aggression and emotion regulation in multi-party psychological contracts. We find that feelings of violation following unfulfilled psychological contracts predict reduced commitment both to the perpetrating organization and the innocent party. However, this spillover effect is asymmetric and follows displaced aggression theory: Expatriates displace their aggression on to the host in response to feelings of violation towards the home organization, but not the reverse. This mechanism is buffered by the individual characteristic of high emotion regulation self-efficacy.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Schuster T, Bader AK, Bader B, Rousseau D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

Year: 2022

Pages: Epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 01/10/2022

Acceptance date: 01/09/2022

Date deposited: 07/09/2022

ISSN (print): 0963-1798

ISSN (electronic): 2044-8325

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd

URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12405


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
447585650

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