The importance of psychological contract unreplicability

The importance of psychological contract unreplicability Marielle Sonnenberg, Vera van Zijderveld & Kim van Gorp, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 25, November 2012, nr. 4, pp. 347-366. The need for organizations to know how to differentiate from other organizations with respect to attracting and retaining (talented) employees is becoming increasingly important. In this study we investigate the importance of perceived psychological contract unreplicability for employee's attitudes and behavior and the way organizations can differentiate by their Talent Management practices, i-deals and implementation of The New Way of Working. Psychological contract unreplicability concerns the extent to which employees perceive they cannot get the same or better conditions somewhere else. The outcomes of the quantitative analysis of 681 respondents within six large organizations, gathered in 2010, show the importance of actively paying attention to the concept of psychological contract unreplicability. The results show that psychological contract unreplicability significantly relates to a higher level of affective commitment and a lower level of turnover intention. Furthermore, a higher amount of Talent Management practices and an extensive implementation of the New Way of Working significantly relate to a higher experienced level of psychological contract unreplicability. By testing mediation models with either the New Way of Working or Talent Management practices as independent variables and affective commitment or turnover intention as a dependent variable, the results show (partial) mediation through psychological contract unreplicability.