a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support

coworkers are able to provide information more quickly than supervisors (Cross & Prusak, 2002)
especially in decentralized or team-based work environments. The increased interaction with
coworkers results in more exposure to the coworkers’ beliefs about organizational events,
policies, and procedures. As a result, the opinions of coworkers are important in shaping
employees’ perceptions of their jobs and organizations.
Given the importance of coworkers as a source of information in today’s organizations,
research is needed that examines the role that they play in shaping employee perceptions of
support. I propose that we can gain a clearer picture of the formation of POS by using social
influence processes to predict employees’ perceptions of support. I will draw on psychology and
sociology research that examines how social relationships can affect the formation of attitudes
and perceptions. For instance, Festinger’s (1954) work on social comparison displays the
importance of social factors on judgments. He proposes that when individuals evaluate their
opinions and beliefs, they utilize the opinions and beliefs of others as a reference point.
Specifically, this dissertation will focus on the influence exerted by employees’ coworker
relationships.
In the following sections, I will present research on social influence and the relationship
between similarity in POS and these important coworker relationships are developed further.
Social Influence Processes in Organizations
In this dissertation, I examine the influence of advice, friendship, role model and
multiplex relationships, as well as the strength of these relationships, on interpersonal similarity
in POS. The fundamental expectation is that employees’ POS will be more similar to the POS of
coworkers with whom they maintain relationships than to other coworkers to whom they are not
connected. Thus, the presence of POS similarity is a social influence effect. Utilization of
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