Optimization of Incentive Mechanism for Knowledge-Based Employees under the Perspective of Psychological Contract

In the era of the knowledge-based economy, knowledge workers have emerged as significant carriers of an enterprise's core competitiveness. Nevertheless, traditional incentive mechanisms often overly rely on material rewards, overlooking the intrinsic needs of knowledge workers for psychological contracts. As an informal emotional and responsibility bond between employees and enterprises, psychological contracts directly influence employees' work attitudes, loyalty, and creativity. Currently, many enterprises lack a profound understanding of the characteristics of psychological contracts of knowledge workers when designing incentive mechanisms, resulting in less-than-satisfactory incentive effects. Employees' cognitive biases towards psychological contracts, enterprises' neglect of contract maintenance, and the dynamic imbalance brought about by organizational changes have become key issues restricting the full utilization of the potential of knowledge workers. Therefore, re-examining and optimizing the incentive mechanism for knowledge workers from the perspective of psychological contracts is not only an important way to enhance employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness but also an inevitable choice for enterprises to achieve sustainable development in the fierce competition.