Psychological contract breach mediates ethical climate and deviance among nurses

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Psychology
• Nursing Ethics

Background:

• Healthcare organizations face challenges in maintaining mission-driven values within employee relationships.
• Hospitals create psychologically demanding environments for nurses, increasing the risk of psychological contract breaches.
• The impact of ethical climates on mitigating interpersonal deviance among healthcare professionals requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the mediating role of psychological contract breaches in the relationship between ethical climates and interpersonal deviance among nurses.
• To examine how ethical workplace climates influence interpersonal deviance in the nursing profession.
• To explore the moderating effect of work experience on this relationship.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study design involving 230 nurses from five Indian hospitals.
• Utilized validated scales to measure ethical climate, psychological contract breach, and interpersonal deviance.
• Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed moderated mediation model.

Main Results:

• An ethical workplace climate was found to reduce nurses' interpersonal deviance.
• Psychological contract breach significantly mediated the relationship between ethical climate and interpersonal deviance.
• Work experience moderated this mediation, showing a stronger impact on less-experienced nurses.

Conclusions:

• Promoting an ethical workplace climate is crucial for reducing interpersonal deviance and psychological contract breaches in nursing.
• Regular assessments of ethical climates can inform targeted interventions at individual, leadership, and organizational levels.
• Interventions should consider the moderating role of work experience to enhance effectiveness for all nurses.