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Mapping Antecedents of the Psychological Contract for Digital Natives: A Review and Future Research Agenda

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Thriving in Digital Workspaces

Abstract

The concept of the psychological contract (PC) refers to an individual’s perception regarding the expectations and obligations of a reciprocal exchange agreement between the individual and the organisation. This chapter will undertake a narrative review of psychological contract research, focusing on former conceptualisations and empirical results specifically focusing on the expectations and obligations of different generational cohorts as aspects of their thriving. The synthesis of previous results lays the foundation for mapping the expectations and obligations of the emerging digital natives in terms of their psychological contract. This discussion is focused around employees’ expectations and obligations against the backdrop of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in order to ensure that they thrive in the new digitised workplace. The findings of this review can be used to provide directions for future research in the psychological contract, generational diversity and Industry 4.0 by proposing a research agenda.

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  1. Department of Human Resource Management, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Alda Deas

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  1. Alda Deas
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  1. Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

    Melinde Coetzee

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Deas, A. (2019). Mapping Antecedents of the Psychological Contract for Digital Natives: A Review and Future Research Agenda. In: Coetzee, M. (eds) Thriving in Digital Workspaces. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24463-7_12

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