The moderator role of leader-member exchange on the impact of psychological contract breach on work alienation: A study in the aviation industry

This study was conducted to determine the possible relationship and causality between psychological contract breach, work alienation, and leader-member exchange. For this purpose, a field research was conducted on the employees of ground handling companies with Group A operating licenses at Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport. The "Psychological Contract Breach Scale" adapted by Bal et al. (2010b), the "Work Alienation Scale" developed by Nair and Vohra (2010) and the "Leader-Member Exchange Scale" developed by Liden and Maslyn (1998) were used as data collection tools. As a result of the online data collection process, the data obtained from 702 employees were analyzed using AMOS and SPSS statistical programs in accordance with the research objectives; Hayes' PROCESS macro was used in the SPSS environment. According to the analysis results, work alienation was positively correlated with psychological contract breaches, while it was negatively correlated with leader-member exchange. Psychological contract breaches positively predicted work alienation; Leader-member exchange has a negative effect. Furthermore, leader-member exchange has a moderating role in the effect of psychological contract breaches on work alienation. Keywords: Psychological Contract, Psychological Contract Breach, Work Alienation, Leader-Member Exchange, Civil Aviation