Table 1 Cognitive aspects of... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Cognitive aspects of psychological contracting

	Formation sensemaking	Compliance sensemaking
Objective – To seek, construct, and enact interpretations of the:	Existence and nature of contract promises	Fulfillment of contract promises
Initial Sensemaking Trigger	Unbuffered uncertainty in the terms of a new relationship	Unbuffered ambiguity and disruptiveness in one’s post-formation, PC experiences
Noticing and Bracketing – Isolating and systematically organizing experienced events to identify:	Relationship structuring cues gathered through proactive information seeking behaviors—examples include past PC experiences, the perceived nature of the contract (transactional or relational), pre-entry communication, and socialization	Promise exchange cues gathered through proactive information seeking behaviors—examples include HR practices, colleague or supervisor support, job communications, and past experiences
Interpretation – Attributing meaning to environmental cues to promote an understanding of:	Perceived promises and PC boundaries (i.e. the extent of the PC)	Depending on the nature of fulfillment and various contextual moderators PC adherence PC resilience PC violation
Enactment – Behavioral responses to the interpretation that create the reality which the holder understands to be true	PC experimentation	Depending on interpreted PC status Maintenance behaviors (PC adherence) Acceptance or withdrawal (PC resilience) Repair initiatives or exit (PC violation)
Subsequent Sensemaking Phase Trigger – To redress an abandoned or problematic PC	Unbuffered uncertainty in the terms of a new relationship	Unbuffered ambiguity in restoring PC reciprocity or PC maintenance

	Formation sensemaking	Compliance sensemaking
Objective – To seek, construct, and enact interpretations of the:	Existence and nature of contract promises	Fulfillment of contract promises
Initial Sensemaking Trigger	Unbuffered uncertainty in the terms of a new relationship	Unbuffered ambiguity and disruptiveness in one’s post-formation, PC experiences
Noticing and Bracketing – Isolating and systematically organizing experienced events to identify:	Relationship structuring cues gathered through proactive information seeking behaviors—examples include past PC experiences, the perceived nature of the contract (transactional or relational), pre-entry communication, and socialization	Promise exchange cues gathered through proactive information seeking behaviors—examples include HR practices, colleague or supervisor support, job communications, and past experiences
Interpretation – Attributing meaning to environmental cues to promote an understanding of:	Perceived promises and PC boundaries (i.e. the extent of the PC)	Depending on the nature of fulfillment and various contextual moderators PC adherence PC resilience PC violation
Enactment – Behavioral responses to the interpretation that create the reality which the holder understands to be true	PC experimentation	Depending on interpreted PC status Maintenance behaviors (PC adherence) Acceptance or withdrawal (PC resilience) Repair initiatives or exit (PC violation)
Subsequent Sensemaking Phase Trigger – To redress an abandoned or problematic PC	Unbuffered uncertainty in the terms of a new relationship	Unbuffered ambiguity in restoring PC reciprocity or PC maintenance

Source(s): Created by authors