The Effects of Organisational Climate, Psychological Contract Breach and Communication on Individual Research Productivity

Abstract

This study examined the effects of organisational climate, psychological contract breach, and effective communication on individual research productivity at the National University of Lesotho. It also investigated the relative importance of personal factors and perceptions of contextual factors on research productivity. Data were collected through self-admin-istered questionnaires distributed to 160 faculty members. Hierarchical regression analysis, partial least squares structural equation modelling, usefulness analysis and relative weight analysis were used to analyse the data. The results show that organisational climate was positively related to effective communication and negatively related to psychological contract breach. Effective communication mediated the relationship between organisational climate and research productivity. Contrary to expectations, organisational climate and psychological contract breach were negatively and positively related to research productivity, respectively. Furthermore, personal factors demonstrated incrementally higher variance than contextual factors in explaining research productivity. These findings imply that university administrators can improve research productivity through effective communication. For instance, university management should communicate the goals of research to all employees.