Aneta Sieminski, a senior management student and Dr. Brenda Ghitulescu, associate professor of management, presented their research on, “The impact of leadership on employee support during organizational mergers: A psychological contract perspective,” at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Academy of Management in Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 17. Their collective research was praised and gathered interest from fellow management professors and PhD student attendees.
This research is a result of Sieminski’s collaborative work with Dr. Ghitulescu as a research assistant during the 2022-2023 academic year. It was inspired by her internship work at Accenture on the Venture and Acquisitions team during the summer of 2022.
Abstract: Mergers & acquisitions redefine employment relationships and impact employees’ psychological contracts. We draw on a psychological contract perspective to examine the role of senior leadership and immediate management in driving employee beliefs and attitudes during post-merger integration. We propose that senior management communication will shape perceptions of psychological contract fulfillment, and that immediate supervision will enhance this effect by attending to employees’ socio-emotional needs during the change process. We also examine the mediating role of psychological contract fulfillment in enhancing employee satisfaction and commitment to change and provide practical implications for management and human resources teams to strengthen psychological contracts during post-merger integration.