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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In addition, benefits accrue to individuals who maintain more advice ties with others.<br />
Baldwin, Bedell, and Johnson (1997) found that MBA students who had more advice ties<br />
enjoyed their program more, learned more, and had better grades. In a study <strong>of</strong> newly-hired<br />
accountants, Morrison (2002) showed that employees with more advice ties had greater<br />
<strong>organizational</strong> knowledge and task mastery than employees with fewer advice ties. The results<br />
<strong>of</strong> these studies suggest that employees who provide advice to others are powerful and evaluated<br />
favorably by supervisors, while individuals who maintain more advice ties have more knowledge<br />
about what is happening in the organization.<br />
Given that advice ties are such an important source <strong>of</strong> job- and organization-related<br />
information, I expect that such ties will be an important source <strong>of</strong> <strong>social</strong> information that is<br />
utilized by employees in order to better understand what is happening in an organization. This<br />
argument does not imply that advice ties will not be a source <strong>of</strong> <strong>social</strong> comparison or <strong>social</strong><br />
learning, or that friendship ties or role model ties will not be a source <strong>of</strong> <strong>social</strong> information, as<br />
this is possible and even likely. However, research indicates that similarity is a key driver <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>social</strong> comparison, which suggests that friendship ties are more likely to be a source <strong>of</strong> <strong>social</strong><br />
<strong>influence</strong>. Social learning theory emphasizes the importance <strong>of</strong> an individual’s admiration for<br />
another as a key driver <strong>of</strong> learning; advice ties likely will not be admired to the same extent as<br />
role models. Therefore, I expect that advice ties would most likely be used for <strong>social</strong><br />
information processing.<br />
Friendship Ties. While advice ties are based on the exchange <strong>of</strong> job- and organization<br />
related information, friendship ties involve expressions <strong>of</strong> personal affect, <strong>social</strong> <strong>support</strong>, and a<br />
sense <strong>of</strong> identity and personal belongingness (Coleman, 1988; 1990). As a result, individuals are<br />
likely to depend on their friends for counseling and companionship (Fisher, 1982) and are more<br />
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