Psychological Contract or Social Contract? Development of the Employment Contracts Scale

The present research sought to distinguish between two forms of employment contracts— the social contract and the psychological contract. A four-item social contract scale was developed to measure employees' beliefs about the ideal employment relationship. Another four-item psychological contract scale was developed to measure employees' beliefs about their actual relationships with their employers. Internal consistencies for these scales ranged from .72 to .89 across samples in three studies. Factor analyses verified the hypothesized two-dimensional structure. Implications of the two distinct forms of employment contracts for future research and managerial practice are highlighted.