Relationships between psychological contract violation, stress and well-being in firefighters

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-09-2018-0114
• Date: 03 June 2019
• Published date: 03 June 2019
• Pages: 120-133
• Author: Fazeelat Duran,Darren Bishopp,Jessica Woodhams
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Healthcare management,Hr & organizational behaviour,Human resource policy,Employee welfare

Relationships between

psychological contract violation,

stress and well-being in firefighters

Fazeelat Duran

University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, and

Darren Bishopp and Jessica Woodhams

University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Abstract

Purpose –Negative emotions resulting from the broken promises by the organisation or employers, as

perceived by an employee are called psychological contract (PC) violation. The purpose of this paper is to

examine the relationships betweenperceived feelings of violation,work-related stress, anxiety anddepression.

Fairness and self-efficacy are used as mediators to understandthe underlying mechanism of associations.

Design/methodology/approach –In total, 97 firefighters completed an online-survey and structural

equation modelling was used to examine the multiple mediation models.

Findings –PC violation was positively associated with occupational stress and job-related well-being.

Together, fairness and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between feelings of violation and job-related

depression. Therefore, the results partially supported the hypotheses.

Originality/value –As the first quantitative study of its kind, this study makes an important contribution

to the firefighters literature by investigating the potential influence of PC violation on their work-related

stress and well-being. Also, previous studies have failed to identify fairness and self-efficacy as potential

mediators of the PC violation.

Keywords Self-efficacy, Stress, Well-being, Fairness, Violation

Paper type Research paper

Psychological contract (PC) research proposes that employees are driven by a perceived

exchange agreement between themselves and their employer in an organisation (Rousseau,

1989; Rousseau and McLean Parks, 1993). Specifically, when employees feel that their

perceivedobligations are fulfilled,it gives rise to positive emotionsand work-related outcomes

(Zhao et al., 2007).On the contrary, when employeesperceive unfulfilled obligations, breaches

in contract result, giving rise to strong negative emotions (called PC violation) that damage

both occupational productivity and personal well-being (Freese and Schalk, 2008; Guest and

Conway, 2002; Morrison and Robinson, 1997; Priesemuth and Taylor, 2016).

Currently, there are organisational changes in the public sector due to the

implementation of financial cuts in the UK’s Fire and Rescue Services (UKFRSs; Gaught,

2016). When organisations undergo such changes, a healthy and progressive employment

relationship is required (Rousseau, 2012). Since 2010, UKFRS has faced financial cuts due to

austerity measures implemented by the Government. The funding received by the UKFRSs

from the Government has been decreased by 30 per cent (Chief Fire Officers Association;

CFOA, 2012). Further, specifically in England[1], the total number of firefighters has

decreased by 22 per cent between 2007 and 2017 (Home Office, 2018). There is an estimation

that the UKFRS could lose up to a further 10,000 firefighters by 2020 (Greenwood, 2016).

In addition, the pension scheme has been under threat resulting in large-scale industrial

action (CFOA, 2012). Therefore, it was timely to investigate how unfulfilled obligations or

broken promises by the Government and the employer might invoke strong negative

emotions affecting the well-being of UK firefighters. Furthermore, we advance PC theory by

examining the underlying mechanism of associations between PC violation and well-being

through fairness and self-efficacy.

International Journal of Workplace

Health Management

Vol. 12 No. 3, 2019

pp. 120-133

© Emerald PublishingLimited

1753-8351

DOI 10.1108/IJWHM-09-2018-0114

Received 2 September 2018

Revised 23 December 2018

11 February 2019

Accepted 12 February 2019

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