The effect of psychological contract on employee perfomance; A case of telkom Kenya

Abstract

The renewed interest in the concept of the psychological contract has come to the fore in attempts to describe, understand and predict the consequences of changes occun'ing in the employment relationship. If an employee thinks that their employer has failed to fulfill its commitments, a breach of the psychological contract has occurred. The catch is that these are not details nonnally laid out in the employment contract, but rather responsibilities the employee believes the employer should fulfill. What makes this type of contract exceptional is that it is unique to each individual. Recognizing that the psychological contract can be breached, the study set out to examine the content and state of the psychological contract held by Telkom Kenya employees and thereby determined that the current state of the contract influences the way that they perfonn in their jobs. The study also examined if there have been any changes in the contract and if there is any difference in the psychological contract held by the employees in the urban areas and those in the rural areas. The methodology of the study consisted of a survey conducted at Telkom Kenya, a parastatal directly responsible and accountable for providing telecommunication services in Kenya and between Kenya and the rest of the world. The data was collected using a questionnaire that was dropped and picked after sometime from the respondents. The key findings suggest that the majority of employees both in rural and urban stations have experienced contract breach which has thereby affected their perfonnance. This view is also supported by managers, as representatives of the employer, who further indicate that the organization, given its external pressures, is not fulfilling its obligations to the employees to the extent that it could. Therefore employers need to take steps to understand employees perceptions of the content of the psychological contract and from this alter the tenns of the contract where circumstances permit