When Promises Break Deadlines: How Faith Protects Against Disengagement at Work

What is it about?

This study examines how employees’ perceptions of psychological contract breaches—the feeling that their organization has broken promises—lead to missed work deadlines, influenced by depersonalization toward leaders and religious faith. When employees feel betrayed, they emotionally distance themselves from authority figures, viewing them as unworthy of concern. This detachment reduces motivation and focus, heightening the risk of poor time management and delayed task completion. Using multisource data from employees and supervisors in Pakistani organizations, the study finds that employees who perceive contract breaches are more likely to depersonalize leaders, leading to more missed deadlines. However, this effect is weaker among those with strong religious faith, which provides moral and emotional grounding that sustains commitment, discipline, and respect for leadership. Thus, religious belief acts as a psychological resource that protects responsibility and performance under strain. For organizations, these findings highlight that broken promises can erode both trust and efficiency, but spiritual resilience can soften the impact. Ensuring that commitments are met, communicating transparently when expectations cannot be fulfilled, and respecting employees’ values can prevent frustration from turning into disengagement. At the same time, supporting diversity in belief systems and acknowledging the stabilizing role of faith can help maintain employee morale and reliability.

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Photo by algoleague on Unsplash

Photo by algoleague on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research is unique in identifying depersonalization toward organizational authorities as the psychological mechanism linking psychological contract breaches to reduced time management effectiveness. It advances conservation of resources theory by showing how emotional withdrawal acts as a resource-loss pathway and how religious faith can serve as a replenishing force that restores commitment and control. The study integrates organizational behavior and spirituality research in a way that clarifies how faith can mitigate the practical consequences of psychological strain. The study is timely as organizations worldwide continue to face heightened employee stress, shifting expectations, and trust challenges. In Pakistan and comparable cultural contexts, where religious identity often informs ethical and motivational frameworks, this work demonstrates how faith can protect against the demotivating effects of organizational failure. It offers a hopeful message: when promises break, faith can help employees remain grounded, focused, and responsible, keeping their work—and their sense of purpose—on track.