Mapping Two Decades Of Research On Psychological Contract And Organizational Commitment: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

This research conducts a bibliometric analysis to explore the role of the psychological contract in fostering organizational commitment. Employees’ trust, happiness, and loyalty are all boosted by psychological contracts, which in turn increase commitment. Using information from Scopus, the research examines 81 scholarly articles published between 2005 and 2025. Scholarly interest was low in the early years, but there was a dramatic uptick starting around 2015. Important markers of academic influence are highlighted in the study, such as the most influential publications, top writers, most prestigious journals, and most prolific countries and institutions. In this area, the University of Illinois at Chicago stands out as a top institution, and the United Kingdom takes the cake as the most productive nation overall. The most consequential writer is Bal, P. Matthijs. To better understand the academic environment of this field, the study uses VOSviewer to build comprehensive networks of co-authors and does co-citation analysis. (1) Psychological contracts and commitment, (2) psychological contract breaches and attitudes toward work, and (3) antecedents and outcomes of psychological contracts are the three main themes that emerge from the data. In order to capture emerging trends across different times, the research also looks at how the focus of studies has altered throughout time. Not only does this study synthesize the prominent issues influencing the area, but it also identifies present research gaps and possible future study topics by methodically reviewing the available literature. Overall, it offers a comprehensive overview of scholarly progress in this important area of organizational research.