Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun 3:13:911389.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911389. eCollection 2022.

Can Psychological Contracts Decrease Opportunistic Behaviors?

Leinan Zhang  1 , Qingyan Zeng  1 , Liu Yang  2 , Yan Han  3 , Yixin Xu  1
Affiliations

Can Psychological Contracts Decrease Opportunistic Behaviors?

Leinan Zhang et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Behavioral psychology is increasingly important in relationship marketing. As key factors of emotional interactions between buyer and seller, psychological contracts and opportunistic behaviors play a critical role in interorganizational relationships which are based on personal relationships of boundary spanners and top management. Most of the existing research mainly focus on positive performance of cooperation but ignoring the dark side of relationships. This study introduces the psychological contract into the exploration of why formal contracts cannot completely avoid opportunistic behaviors. It mainly investigates whether psychological contracts in relationships can reduce the occurrence of opportunistic behaviors. The results show that psychological contract has a significant positive effect on the relationship quality, and negatively affect opportunistic behavior through trust and commitment. The positive relationship between psychological contracts and relationship quality is moderated by dependence. This study enriches and expands the domestic and foreign research on psychological contracts and opportunistic behaviors in relationship marketing.

Keywords: behavioral psychology; dependence; opportunism; psychological contracts; relationship quality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Research model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abosag I., Yen D. A., Barnes B. R. (2016). What is dark about the dark side of business relationships. Indus. Market. Manag. 55, 5–9. 10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.02.008 - DOI
    1. Alcover C. M., Rico R., Turnley W. H., et al. . (2017). Multi-dependence in the formation and development of the distributed psychological contract. Eur. J. Work Organiz. Psychol. 26, 16–29. 10.1080/1359432X.2016.1197205 - DOI
    1. Alves H., Campón-Cerro A. M., Hernández-Mogollón J. M. (2019). Enhancing rural destinations' loyalty through relationship quality. Spanish J. Market. ESIC 23, 185–204. 10.1108/SJME-09-2018-0041 - DOI
    1. Anderson E., Jap S. D. (2005). The dark side of close relationships. MIT Sloan Manag. Rev. 46, 75.
    1. Anderson E., Weitz B. (1992). The use of pledges to build and sustain commitment in distribution channels. J. Market. Res. 29, 18–34. 10.1177/002224379202900103 - DOI