An exploration of the ideological dimension of the psychological contract among social enterprises: A comparison across Colombian and Italian contexts

Abstract

This paper reports a cross-country study on the ideological aspects of the psychological contract. The study was conducted among Colombian (N = 335) and Italian (N = 327) employees working in social enterprises. The aim of the study was threefold: first, we wanted to establish the relevance of ideological contracts among social enterprises, which are value-driven organizations; second, the study was aimed at establishing the degree of invariance of a measure that assesses the ideological obligations of employers and employees; third, a mediated model of organizational and employee ideological obligations was tested using employee pride as the outcome. Findings provide support for the study’s hypotheses and objectives. We discuss the implications of our findings for our understanding of the ideological dimension of psychological contracts among social enterprises. © 2016, Giunti O.S. Organizzazioni Speciali. All rights reserved.