Abstract:

The growing instability of labour markets, restructuring and job cuts, precarious employment and the flexibilization of personnel, cause the growing role of the psychological contract and employee confidence in the employer in modern labour relations. Based on some results of a sociological survey conducted annually among workers from five countries with different models of economic development, we examine the question: how the existing conditions of labour relations between employees and employers affect the fulfilment of the explicit and implicit aspects of the psychological contract. Based on the theory of the psychological contract and the transitional concept, we have examined the causes of inconsistencies in mutual expectations of both employees and employers, leading to mistrust, uncertainty and erosion in labour relations. The empirical data obtained in 2015-2017 from the survey of workers in different sectors of the economy allow us to define various forms of violations of the psychological contract, to make a comparative analysis of the trends in the studied countries, to identify similarities and differences. The article concludes that it is necessary for managers to understand the need to take into account the factor of trust when developing a strategy for managing human resources and the importance of the role of a psychological contract in personnel management.