This study contributes to the research of employee health and well‐being by examining the longitudinal effects of psychological contract (PC) breach on employees’ health. We integrate Social Exchange and Conservation of Resources theories to position effort–reward imbalance (ERI) as the mediating mechanism. We also assessed the moderating role of perceived job control as a boundary condition through which employees could prevent PC breach and ERI from adversely affecting their health. Using three‐wave longitudinal survey data from 389 employees, we estimated a path model using each variable’s growth parameters (intercept and slope). We found support for our hypotheses regarding stable effects; we found positive associations between PC breach and physical and mental health complaints and a need for recovery through ERI perceptions. We further tested employees’ perceived control over the work environment as a boundary condition and found support for its role in attenuating the positive relationship between PC breach and ERI perceptions, but not for its moderating role in the ERI–health outcomes relationship. Our findings indicate that exposure to PC breach has a detrimental impact on employee health/well‐being via perceptions of ERI and allow us to unravel one of the cognitive mechanisms leading to potential employee ill‐health. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.

中文翻译：

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心理契约违约如何影响长期身心健康：努力-回报失衡的纵向作用

本研究通过检验心理契约 (PC) 违反对员工健康的纵向影响，为员工健康和幸福感的研究做出贡献。我们整合社会交换和资源保护理论，将努力-回报不平衡（ERI）定位为中介机制。我们还评估了感知工作控制作为边界条件的调节作用，通过该边界条件，员工可以防止 PC 泄露和 ERI 对他们的健康产生不利影响。使用来自 389 名员工的三波纵向调查数据，我们使用每个变量的增长参数（截距和斜率）估计了一个路径模型。我们发现支持我们关于稳定效应的假设；我们发现 PC 泄露与身心健康投诉以及通过 ERI 认知恢复的需求之间存在正相关关系。我们进一步测试了员工对工作环境的感知控制作为边界条件，并发现支持它在减弱 PC 泄露和 ERI 感知之间的积极关系中的作用，但不支持它在 ERI 与健康结果关系中的调节作用。我们的研究结果表明，暴露于 PC 漏洞对 ERI 的感知对员工的健康/福祉产生不利影响，并使我们能够解开导致潜在员工健康不良的认知机制之一。我们总结了理论和实践意义。我们的研究结果表明，暴露于 PC 漏洞对 ERI 的感知对员工的健康/福祉产生不利影响，并使我们能够解开导致潜在员工健康不良的认知机制之一。我们总结了理论和实践意义。我们的研究结果表明，暴露于 PC 漏洞对 ERI 的看法对员工的健康/福祉产生不利影响，并使我们能够解开导致潜在员工健康不良的认知机制之一。我们总结了理论和实践意义。