Labor Relations Climate, Perceived Psychological Contract Breach and Union Commitment:
The Cross-Level Moderating Effect of Democratic Grassroots Union Election
LI Min,ZHOU Lian
South China University of Technology， Guangzhou， China
Abstract：Drawing on the theoretical framework of psychological contract and union theory, this study empirically examines the multi-level relationships between organizational-level variables, namely labor relations climate and democratic grassroots union elections, and individual-level variables, namely perceived psychological contract breach and union commitment in the context of China transition economy.
Hierarchical linear modelling results were achieved from a sample of 1211 employees from 37 Chinese enterprises. It was found that organizational-level labor relations climate was positively related to employee union commitment and employees’ perceived psychological contract breach was negatively related to their union commitment. Perceived psychological contract breach mediated the relationship between the organizational-level labor relations climate and union commitment. And, democratic grassroots union elections moderated the negative relationship between employees’ perceived psychological contract breach and union commitment, which indicated that whenever the enterprises implemented democratic grassroots union elections, the negative relationship was weaker. Implications for research and practice are discussed finally.
2015, Vol. 12 
