Understanding Employee Work Attitudes: An Integration of Psychological Contract Theory and Organizational Support Theory

Employee motivation and retention are critical concerns for the hospitality industry. The purpose of this study was to understand employees’ work attitudes and emotional affect through a social exchange perspective by integrating employee psychological contract theory and organizational support theory. Affective event theory provided the theoretical foundation for this study. Data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and path analysis. The results showed that employees’ psychological contract fulfillment was a strong predictor of their perceived organizational support. In addition, psychological contract fulfillment and perceived organizational support together explained employee affect at work as well as other work attitudes. Affect at work was a mediator for various relationships among psychological contract fulfillment, perceived organizational support and employee work attitudes. This study contributes to both psychological contract theory and organizational support theory as well as affect research in the hospitality literature. More importantly, this study provides industry managers with implications for motivating and retaining employees