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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identifies with and interacts with another individual who provides information to the first<br />
individual regarding how he or she is treated by a third party, that information may serve as<br />
signal to the first individual regarding how he or she is treated by the third party as well (Felson<br />
& Reed, 1986). When the second individual indicates that he or she has been treated poorly by<br />
the third party, the first individual will interpret this information as a signal that he or she has<br />
also been treated poorly by the third party. Therefore, the first individual’s interaction and<br />
identification with the second individual makes him or her believe that the treatment that the<br />
other receives is indicative <strong>of</strong> the way that he or she is treated by the third party.<br />
Social comparison can also lead to dissimilarity in perceptions when ego utilizes alter as<br />
a point <strong>of</strong> comparison. Crosby (1984) argues that an individual will not evaluate how much <strong>of</strong><br />
an outcome s/he receives from a third party objectively, but instead base his/her evaluation on<br />
how much <strong>of</strong> an outcome s/he receives relative to similar others. When an individual feels that<br />
s/he does not receive as much <strong>of</strong> an outcome as another person, ego’s evaluation will become<br />
less favorable, and as a result be dissimilar to the other person’s evaluation. This comparative<br />
function would yield dissimilarity between the perceptions <strong>of</strong> the individuals with respect to the<br />
outcome.<br />
It seems that the associative and comparative functions present differing hypotheses<br />
about whether <strong>social</strong> comparison will result in similarity or dissimilarity among individuals’<br />
perceptions. However, self-evaluation maintenance theory (Tesser, 1988) presents a way to<br />
integrate these seemingly different predictions by paying attention to the outcomes being<br />
evaluated. The self-evaluation maintenance model is based on the assumption that individuals<br />
want to maintain or enhance their self-evaluations. In some situations, an individual will “bask<br />
in the reflected glory” <strong>of</strong> another similar individual who has succeeded. In these cases, an<br />
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