Psychological Contracts in Employment: Cross-National Perspectives

The relationships between workers and firms are changing worldwide. Nowhere is this more evident than in the psychological contracts of employment - that is, the obligations workers owe to their employer, and vice versa. Psychological Contracts In Employment contains the cross-national perspectives of organizational scholars from 13 countries to examine how societies differ in the nature of psychological contracts in employment and how global business initiatives are bridging these differences.

The author team assembled by Editors Denise Rousseau and René Schalk includes social scientists with deep knowledge of the particular societies they describe, and whose personal scholarship involves psychological contract phenomena locally as well as abroad. Readers of Denise Rousseau′s award-winning book Psychological Contracts in Organizations (Sage, 1995), will welcome the extension of this ground-breaking work into the global arena. Both the introductory and concluding chapters, written by the editors, provide several themes to structure and frame the book′s content. Every chapter in this volume maintains a clear focus on the importance of a cross-cultural perspective on psychological contracts for today′s managers, social scientists, and public policy makers.

Professor Denise Rousseau studies the changing psychological contract in employment, human resource strategies, and the effects of organizational culture on performance. Her books include: Psychological Contracts in Employment (Sage, with Rene Schalk); Relational Wealth: The Advantage of Stability in a Changing Economy (Oxford, with Carrie Leana); Psychological Contracts in Organizations (Sage); Boundaryless Careers: Work, Mobility, and Learning in the New Organizational Era (Oxford, with M. Arthur); Developing an Interdisciplinary Science of Organizations (Jossey-Bass, with K. Roberts and C. Hulin); and Trends in Organizational Behavior (Wiley series, with C. Cooper). She is also the author of more than 100 articles. Professor Rousseau served as President, Academy of Management (2004-2005), and is Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Organizational Behavior (1998 – present). Psychological Contracts in Organizations, won the Academy of Management′s Terry Award.