a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support
a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support
a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support
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<strong>of</strong> mutual <strong>support</strong>, much <strong>of</strong> which may be socioemotional in nature. Applying Blau’s<br />
perspective to the employer-employee relationship, Eisenberger and his colleagues (1986)<br />
proposed that the employee-organization connection was a <strong>social</strong> exchange relationship in which<br />
the organization <strong>of</strong>fered employees rewards and favorable job conditions in exchange for loyalty<br />
and work effort. However, an employee’s relationship with the employer is not based on simple<br />
quid-pro-quo. Eisenberger was concerned with the employee’s subjective valuation and<br />
perceptions <strong>of</strong> the treatment that the organization <strong>of</strong>fered rather than objective measures <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>organizational</strong> <strong>support</strong>. When employees <strong>perceived</strong> that the organization <strong>support</strong>ed them, he<br />
argued that the reciprocity norm (Gouldner, 1960) would obligate them to <strong>support</strong> the<br />
organization. According to Gouldner (1960), the reciprocity norm is a generalized moral norm<br />
that requires individuals to help (and not harm) individuals who help them.<br />
Commitment (termed “<strong>support</strong>” by Blau) that the employee <strong>of</strong>fers to the organization is<br />
most <strong>of</strong>ten represented by measures <strong>of</strong> <strong>organizational</strong> commitment such as the Organizational<br />
Commitment Questionnaire developed by Mowday et al. (1979) and the three-component model<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>organizational</strong> commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1984). However, management researchers had<br />
not yet created a construct that assessed employees’ beliefs regarding the treatment that they<br />
were <strong>of</strong>fered by the organization, or <strong>organizational</strong> <strong>support</strong>. Eisenberger et al.’s (1986)<br />
<strong>perceived</strong> <strong>organizational</strong> <strong>support</strong> construct addressed this need in the literature. POS is based on<br />
employees’ expectation that “in order to determine the organization’s willingness to reward work<br />
effort and meet needs for praise approval, employees develop global beliefs concerning the<br />
extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being”<br />
(501).<br />
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