Abstract

In a set of two studies, based on employees from two countries, we examined how
emotion regulation moderates the relationship between psychological contract
breach and (a) feelings of violation and (b) proactive behaviors (knowledge
sharing and taking charge). We found that cognitive change buffers the negative
effect of breach on feelings of violation and knowledge sharing (Study 1,
United States). We replicate this result using taking charge as an outcome. In
addition, we demonstrate that using high levels of attentional deployment as
an emotion regulation strategy accentuates the negative effect of both social
and generative breach on employees’ taking charge (Study 2, the Netherlands).
Based on our results, we call for additional research on how emotion
regulation modifies the relationship between psychological contract breach
and work outcomes.