Psychological contract breach, affective commitment and employee silence : the moderating role of ethical climate

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of psychological contract breach on employee silence. Organisational affective commitment was tested as a mediator in this relationship. Ethical climate was also tested as a moderator in the relationship between affective commitment and employee silence. Data was collected from 171 participants via online surveys and tested using a combination of regression analyses and the PROCESS macro. Results of the tests procedures indicated that there is a positive relationship between psychological contract breach and employee silence; the mediating effect of affective commitment between contract breach and employee silence was established but ethical climate could not be confirmed as a moderator. Based on these results, practical and easy to implement strategies that can be utilised to reduce the negative impact of employee silence in the organisation is discussed.