Promises to employees matter, self-identity too: Effects of psychological contract breach and older worker identity on violation and turnover intentions

This paper examines the employment relationship of older workers by studying the effects of psychological contract breach on psychological contract violation and turnover intentions. Despite an accumulating body of research calling for a multidimensional conceptualization of the psychological contract, the majority of studies adopt a unidimensional approach. Furthermore the literature on older worker psychological contracts is often limited to comparisons between age groups or different generations. This research addresses these gaps by using a multidimensional approach of breach and expands research by including older worker identity in the examination of older worker psychological contracts. This research contributes to the literature by identifying specific areas of the psychological contract that exert a direct effect on violation and an indirect effect on turnover intentions. A second contribution lies in the finding that older worker identity moderates the relationship between breach and violation for those areas. Implications for research and practice are discussed.