a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support

less positive. Thus, the POS of the friend who received positive treatment will increase, and the
POS of the focal employee, who perceived less positive treatment, will decrease following
comparison with his/her friend. Since ego’s POS decreases, and ego’s friend’s POS increases,
the POS of the two friends will become less similar.
Tesser (1988) stresses that the outcome in question determines whether or not the
occurrence of an association or comparison function is likely. When considering POS, then, a
focal employee’s POS would increase (and become more similar to the similar other’s POS) if
the similar other received a training opportunity that the focal employee was not interested in
having for him/herself, or if all employees received an across-the-board raise or a new benefit
from the organization. On the other hand, if the similar other received a promotion that the focal
employee desired, his or her POS could become dissimilar to the POS of the similar other.
However, it is also very possible that friends could be happy for a friend who is treated favorably
by the organization, even if they were competing for an outcome. In such a case, even when
employees are competing, an employee’s POS may become similar to the POS of his or her
friendship ties.
Research on justice perceptions and POS is useful in predicting whether or not a
comparison or association function will occur between friends. Specifically, researchers have
shown that the relationship between procedural justice and POS is stronger than the relationship
between distributive justice and POS (Masterson et al., 2000; Tekleab et al., 2005; Wayne et al.,
2002) because employees deal with procedural justice on a daily basis while promotions and
raises occur infrequently. This suggests that the organization’s policies (procedural justice) are
more important to employees’ perceived support than are the rewards that they themselves
receive (distributive justice). Thus, it is policies and procedures, which Tesser (1988) would
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