The document summarizes three studies exploring the impact of Greece's financial crisis on employment relationships. Study 1 examines how organizational changes, psychological contract breach, and perceived organizational support relate to job insecurity, well-being, and satisfaction. Study 2 takes a multi-level perspective comparing employees and supervisors. Study 3 analyzes the role of individual characteristics like resilience. The studies found that organizational changes were linked to contract breach and violation, which increased insecurity and hurt commitment and satisfaction. Perceived support and individual traits had some mitigating effects. Overall, the crisis damaged employment relationships through feelings of betrayal, lack of trust, and insecurity.

1. Exploring the consequences of the
financial crisis on employment
relationships in Greece
Ioannis Nikolaou
Centre of Research in Organizational Behavior & Leadership
Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
http://about.me/nikolaou

3. Research Framework
• The fear of unemployment
– Job insecurity
• The role of HRM
– Perceived organizational support
• Their impact on employment relationships
– Psychological Contract
– Psychological contract breach and violation
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

4. Study 1. Psychological contract, job insecurity and
the role of perceived organizational support

5. Hypotheses
• H1: Experiences of organizational change are
associated with breach/violation, job insecurity,
job satisfaction and psychological well-being
• H2: Psychological contract breach and violation
are positively associated with job insecurity and
negatively with job satisfaction
• H3: Psychological well-being is associated with
job insecurity (Job insecurity climate hypothesis)
• H4: POS will mediate the relationship between
job insecurity and well being/job satisfaction (HR
hypothesis)

6. Sample - Measures
• A cross-sectional survey across organizations
– Sample: N=301 working individuals
• Measures:
• Experiences of organizational change (a: .77)
• Psychological contract breach (a: .92)
• Psychological contract violation (a: .96)
• Job insecurity (a: .85)
• Perceived organizational support (a: .78)
• Employee satisfaction (single item)
• Psychological well-being (a: .87)
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

7. Inter-correlation matrix

8. Main Findings
• Experiences of organizational change are associated with psychological
contract breach and feelings of violation, increased job insecurity and
reduced employee satisfaction (H1 confirmed) but not with psychological
well-being.
• Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job
insecurity and negatively with job satisfaction (H2 confirmed)
• Job insecurity is the strongest predictor (than experiences of organizational change,
psychological contract breach and violation) of psychological well-being  job insecurity
climate (H3 confirmed)
• Perceived organizational support partially mediates the relationship between job insecurity
and psychological well-being and between job insecurity and employee satisfaction  HR
Hypothesis (H4 confirmed)
Conclusion: The impact of job insecurity on employee well-
being and the usefulness of perceived organizational support
in order to deal with job insecurity climate
Similartoprevious
research
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

9. Study 2. Following a multi-level perspective

10. Hypotheses
• H1: Experiences of organizational change are associated
with breach/violation, job insecurity, job satisfaction
• H2: Psychological contract breach and violation are
positively associated with job insecurity and negatively with
job satisfaction
• H3: Supervisor’s psychological contract breach and feelings
of violation are positively associated with subordinates’
breach and violation
• H4: Both employees and supervisors will perceive POS the
same way
• H5: Experiences of change will mediate the relationship
between supervisors’ POS and employees Ψ contract
fulfilment
Similartost.1

11. Sample - Measures
• Matched sample: N=205 employees & N=100
supervisors from various banks
– Measures:
• Experiences of organizational change (supervisors’ a: .84)
• Psychological contract breach (employees’ a: .85/supervisors’ a: .89)
• Psychological contract violation (employees’ a: .92/supervisors’ a: .94)
• Psychological contract fulfilment (employees’ a: .71/supervisors’ a: .80)
• Perceived organizational support (employees’ a: .82/supervisors’ a: .85)
• Job insecurity (employees’ a: .84/supervisors’ a: .89/supervisors’ a: .91)
• Employee satisfaction (single item)
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

12. Main Findings
• Supervisor’s psychological contract breach and feelings of violation are positively
associated with subordinates’ (H3 confirmed)
• Employee’s perceived organization support is positively associated with supervisors’ perceived
organizational support (H4 confirmed)
• Experiences of organizational change mediate the relationship between supervisors’
perceived organizational support and employees’ psychological contract fulfilment (H5 conf.)
Conclusion: Interaction between employees’ and supervisors’ Ψ
contract and the role of experiences of organizational change
• Experiences of organizational change are associated with psychological
contract breach and feelings of violation and with increased job insecurity,
reduced employee in both samples (H1 confirmed)
• Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job
insecurity and negatively with job satisfaction in both samples (H2 confirmed)
Similartost.1
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou
HLManalyses

13. Study 3. The role of individual characteristics
(resilience and core-self evaluations)

14. Hypotheses
• H1: Experiences of organizational change are
associated with breach/violation, job insecurity,
organizational commitment and turnover
intentions
• H2: Psychological contract breach and violation
are positively associated with job insecurity and
negatively with organizational commitment
• H3: CSEs is positively associated with resilience
and negatively with job insecurity and resilience
is also negatively associated with job insecurity
Similartost.1

15. Sample - Measures
• Sample: N=115 M&S employees (76% response)
– 32% with managerial responsibilities
• Measures:
– Core-Self evaluations (a: .74)
– Resilience (a: .88)
– Experiences of organizational change (a: .75)
– Psychological contract breach (a: .89)
– Psychological contract violation (a: .92)
– Job insecurity (a: .80)
– Organizational commitment (a: .77)
– Turnover intentions (a: .70)
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

16. Inter-correlation matrix

17. Main Findings
• CSEs is positively associated with resilience and negatively with job insecurity and
resilience is also negatively associated with job insecurity (H3 confirmed)
• Feelings of violation is the strongest predictor of turnover intentions/commitment
compared to experiences of organizational change and breach  Lack of trust
Conclusion: Previous change history and Ψ contract violation
have a major impact on employees’ attitudes.
• Experiences of organizational change are associated with breach/violation,
turnover intentions but not with job insecurity, organizational commitment, even
when controlling for resilience and CSEs  Lack of trust (H1 part. conf)
• Psychological contract breach and violation are positively associated with job
insecurity and negatively with organizational commitment (H2 confirmed)
Study1-2
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

18. General discussion
• Very high levels of psychological contract
breach and violation; employees feel betrayed
and insecure
• The strong impact of job insecurity climate
• HRDs can have a strong impact (through POS)
• Small effects of individual characteristics
(CSEs-resilience)
Ioannis Nikolaou | http://about.me/nikolaou

19. Exploring the consequences of the
financial crisis on employment
relationships in Greece
Ioannis Nikolaou
Centre of Research in Organizational Behavior & Leadership
Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
http://about.me/nikolaou