earticle

영어

While some researchers have regarded performance-based HR system as one of the key factor contributing to organizational effectiveness, others have focused on the negative side of HR system examining outcomes that occur for those who perceive psychological contract breach. Psychological contract breach negatively affects employees’ work-related attitudes and behaviors, which in turn interferes a wide range of organizational effectiveness. Psychological contract breach is inherently ethical in that it reflects the perception that another has failed to fulfill the promised obligations. Although previous research has examined a range of antecedents of the perception of psychological contract breach such as organizational characteristics, leader characteristics including leadership, and employee characteristics, little is known about the effect of ethical context on the perception of psychological contract breach. In the current study, I theorized and examined the main effect of ethical leadership on the perception of psychological contract breach and the moderation effects of leader-member exchange (LMX) and moral identity on the relationship between ethical leadership and the perception of psychological contract breach. Given that the perception of psychological contract breach is based on employee’s subjective perspective and leaders are perceived as an agent of an organization, ethical leadership is expected to play an important role in understanding the perception of psychological contract breach. In addition, the perception of psychological contract breach can be vary depending on the extent of interaction between contract partners individual values and beliefs. Thus, I argue that LMX and moral identity may be significant moderators of the relation between ethical leadership and the perception of psychological contract breach. The participants in this study were 245 petty officers in the South Korean Navy. Overall, 236 petty officers completed the questionnaires, resulting in an 96.3% response rate. Results indicate that ethical leadership significantly decreased the perception of psychological contract breach. In addition, the results showed that leader-member exchange and followers’ moral identity strengthen the negative relationship between ethical leadership and the perception of psychological contract breach. This research makes several theoretical contributions to both the ethical leadership and the psychological contract studies. The overall and most important contribution is that ethical leaders play a key role in shaping the work context of followers and exert important influence on followers’ perception of psychological contract breach in the workplace. Past research has found that organizational characteristics, leader characteristics including leadership, and employee characteristics were significantly related to followers’ perception of psychological contract breach. This study extends the antecedent scope of psychological contract breach by theorizing and examining the causal relationship between ethical leadership and the perception of psychological contract breach. The findings regarding moderating mechanism contribute to the research on relations of leadership with followers’ perception of psychological contract breach. As mentioned above, the relationship between ethical leadership and followers’ perception of psychological contract breach is strengthened when LMX and followers’ moral identity are high. These findings confirms my argument that work relationship between leaders and followers and individual identity have effects on how followers respond to leadership behaviors.

한국어

심리적 계약위반은 조직에 대한 구성원들의 태도와 행동에 부정적인 영향을 미치고, 궁극적으로는 조직의 전반적인 효과성을 저해하는 결과를 초래한다. 심리적 계약위반은 조직과 구성원 간에 암묵적으로 이루어진 약속을 파기함으로써 서로에 대한 신뢰를 저해할 수 있다는 점에서 본질적으로 윤리적인 속성을 갖는다. 기존 의 연구자들은 조직 특성, 리더 특성 및 리더십, 그리고 구성원의 특성 등 다양한 측면에서 심리적 계약위반 인 식의 선행요인을 탐색하였지만, 윤리적 맥락과 심리적 계약위반 인식 간의 구체적인 인과관계를 논의하고 실 증한 연구는 찾아보기 어려운 실정이다. 이에 따라 본 연구에서는 윤리적 리더십이 구성원의 심리적 계약위반 인식에 미치는 영향을 이론화하고 실증하였다. 그리고 심리적 계약위반에 대한 인식은 계약 주체 간의 상호작 용 방식이나 의사소통의 정도, 그리고 개인의 신념이나 가치관에 따라 다를 수 있다는 점을 고려하여, 윤리적 리더십과 심리적 계약위반 인식 간의 관계에 대한 리더-구성원 교환관계와 구성원의 도덕적 정체성의 조절효 과를 함께 검증하였다. 해군 부사관 집단을 대상으로 분석한 결과, 윤리적 리더십은 구성원의 심리적 계약위반 인식을 낮추는 효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 LMX가 높은 구성원들은 LMX가 낮은 구성원들에 비해 리더가 윤리적 리더십을 발휘할수록 심리적 계약위반 인식을 덜 겪는 것으로 나타났으며, 도덕적 정체성이 높 은 구성원들은 도덕적 정체성이 낮은 구성원들에 비해 리더가 윤리적 리더십을 발휘할수록 심리적 계약위반 인식을 적게 경험하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 이론적 논의와 연구결과를 바탕으로 이론적 의의와 실무적 시사점, 그리고 연구의 한계와 향후 연구 방향을 제시하였다.