This doctoral thesis focuses on understanding how talented employees’ psychological contract was formed and changed over the period of their employment. Organisations in the oil and gas sector rely heavily on cutting-edge technologies and human capital to optimise oil production. Hence, they are keen to attract and retain talented employees in order to sustain value creation and meet their organisational goals through the immediate and potential contribution of these talented employees. The psychological contract, on the other hand, reflects the quality of the employment relationship between the talented employees and their employer. It has a number of implications on employees’ attitudes and behaviour including job satisfaction, turnover, and performance. Thirty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with talented employees across the Exploration and Production Organisations and their subsidiaries in Oman. Data was thematically analysed using a modified version of the traditional thematic analysis. Three overarching themes were discovered as most relevant and important.

This doctoral thesis focuses on understanding how talented employees’ psychological contract was formed and changed over the period of their employment. Organisations in the oil and gas sector rely heavily on cutting-edge technologies and human capital to optimise oil production. Hence, they are kee...