But you promised! Managing consumers’ psychological contracts

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• 作者：David Hannah^a ; ^{drhannah@sfu.ca" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Emily Treen^a ; ^{ert1@sfu.ca" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Leyland Pitt^a ; ^{lpitt@sfu.ca" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Pierre Berthon^b ; ^{pberthon@bentley.edu" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：Psychological contracts ; Marketing relationships ; Customer expectations ; Social exchange ; Contract violations ; Mutuality
• 刊名：Business Horizons
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：July-August 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：59
• 期：4
• 页码：363-368
• 全文大小：239 K

文摘

In management literature, a psychological contract generally refers to an employee's beliefs about the reciprocal obligations that exist between him or her and an organization. Legal contracts, on the other hand, are agreements that create obligations between the parties that are enforceable by law. Psychological contracts are different from legal contracts in that they are characterized by the belief that both parties have entered into a set of mutual obligations. While marketing scholars and practitioners have largely overlooked the notion of psychological contracts, this article argues that a firm's customers might view the promises they believe a firm has made to them as psychological contracts. Psychological contracts are as relevant to marketing as they are to management. This article expands the notion of psychological contracts to marketing relationships and outlines internal and external strategies firms can employ to manage psychological contracts more effectively.