Violations of the psychological contract: Experiences of a group of casual workers

The escalating casualisation of the Australian workforce appears to be accompanied by increasing worker resentment of the employment relationship. This paper examines the extent of psychological contract violations perceived by casual workers. It follows an earlier paper in this journal which revealed that casual workers experience low job satisfaction and that needs from the relational contract were not being met. That research also suggested that psychological contracts were being violated to the point where workers developed negative dispositions towards managers and their organisations. This paper extends the previous work by investigating the perceptions of a larger sample of casual workers. Results confirm the earlier research, and more significantly reveal, that violations were perceived across most of the investigated work dimensions.