Workplace stress carries considerable costs for the employees’ wellbeing and for the organization’s performance. Recent studies demonstrate that perceptions of psychological contract breach are a source of stress for employees. That is, when employees notice that their employer does not fulfil certain obligations, they will perceive that certain resources are threatened or lost, which in turn translates into increased stress. In this study, we zoom in on how stress unfolds in the aftermath of breach, dependent on the organization’s reaction to the breach. More specifically, we examined the influence of different types of social accounts (i.e., denial, apology, blaming and exonerating justification) on individuals’ stress resolution process using physiological (i.e., heart rate) and psychological (self-report) data. We used an experimental design in which we manipulated psychological contract breach and social account type. To test our hypotheses, we performed two sets of functional Principal Component Analyses: first to examine the effects of breach and second to examine the effects of social accounts. Our results indicate that breach elicits a physiological stress reaction, reflected in a short-lived increase in heart rate. However, no increase in the self-reported stress measure was found. Further, we did not find a significant effect of social accounts on the psychological and physiological recovery process. The current research allows us to demonstrate that psychological contract breach will trigger a short-lived increase in heart rate. Further research is needed to better understand unfolding trajectories of physiological reactions to contract breach and the effect of social accounts as organizational recovery efforts.

中文翻译：

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否认，辩解或道歉：社会契约会在心理契约违约后影响压力水平吗？

工作场所压力给员工的福祉和组织绩效带来可观的成本。最近的研究表明，对心理契约违规的理解是员工承受压力的根源。就是说，当员工注意到自己的雇主没有履行某些义务时，他们会认为某些资源受到了威胁或损失，进而转化为压力的增加。在本研究中，我们将根据组织对违规的反应来放大违规后压力如何扩展。更具体地说，我们使用生理（即心率）和心理（自我报告）数据，研究了不同类型的社会账户（即拒绝，道歉，指责和宽恕理由）对个人压力缓解过程的影响。我们使用了一种实验性设计，其中我们操纵了心理契约违约和社会账户类型。为了检验我们的假设，我们执行了两组功能性的主成分分析：第一组检查违规的影响，第二组检查社会账户的影响。我们的结果表明，违规引发生理应激反应，反映在心律的短暂增加上。但是，未发现自我报告的压力量度增加。此外，我们没有发现社会账户对心理和生理恢复过程的显着影响。当前的研究使我们能够证明，违反心理契约会触发心律的短暂提高。