Navigating the unspoken: the impact of socio-institutional factors on Pakistani employees’ perceptions of implicit promises
通过对巴基斯坦四家跨国公司的53次深度访谈，研究发现员工对隐性承诺的感知深受社会分层、关系网络等外部社会制度因素影响，为心理契约理论提供了情境化视角。
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the under-studied construct of implicit promises within the broader field of psychological contracts by highlighting the impact of external, socio-institutional factors on employee perceptions of implicit promises. Design/methodology/approach A total of 53 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted in four foreign MNEs operating in Pakistan. A purposive sampling technique was applied and the four case study MNEs chosen differed considerably in terms of size, subsidiary age, organizational structure, HR strategy and industry/sector. Findings Our findings highlight that employees continually process their social environments, subsequently constructing a web of unwritten, perceived obligations and implicit promises, that are influenced by a range of external factors outside organizational control such as social stratification, relational networking both within and outside the employing organization, the economic health of the industry/sector, etc. We underline how implicit promises are socially constructed and therefore the socio-institutional components of implicit promises are likely to vary across contexts/countries and time. Originality/value Despite extensive literature on psychological contracts, implicit promises in particular remain theoretically and empirically under-operationalized, largely because of methodological challenges and a preponderance of cross-sectional, self-reported and a-contextual studies in extant psychological contract literature. Our study offers a reworked definition of implicit promises that highlights the impact of contextually-specific, socio-institutional factors on employees’ unspoken expectations and beliefs about future organizational outcomes and opportunities.