a social influence analysis of perceived organizational support

this chapter. The first set of measures included reciprocated strong ties and a second set of
measures included non-reciprocated strong ties. In the reciprocated ties analysis, both
reciprocity and frequent contact were necessary analysis for a strong friendship or advice tie to
exist between actors. In the non-reciprocated ties analysis, only frequent contact (not
reciprocity) was required for strong friendship and advice ties. I did not apply the reciprocity
requirement to role model ties, as such ties by definition do not need to be reciprocal (Gibson,
2003; Ibarra, 1999).
In the following sections of this chapter, the sample is described and descriptive statistics
for control and dependent variables are presented. Next, the descriptive statistics, correlations
and regression results testing the hypotheses for the reciprocated ties analysis and the non-
reciprocated ties analysis are presented.
Sample and Descriptive Statistics for Control and Dependent Variables
Table 4 presents descriptive statistics for the control and dependent variables assessed in
this dissertation. Of the 138 members of the organization, 101 were present at the meeting and
complete, usable data was obtained from 93 employees yielding a response rate of 92% of the
available employees, or 67% of the entire organization. Although a higher response rate would
have been desirable, many network studies are published with response rates ranging between
65% and 90% due to the difficulty associated with getting employees to complete such a long
and cumbersome survey (Stork & Richards, 1992). The sample was 60.2% female and 80.6%
Caucasian, 11.8% African-American, 5.4% Asian, and 2.2% other. Mean tenure was 1.94 years
(Range = 0 to 6.33). Finally, respondents held, on average, .05 leadership positions. Mean POS
was 3.21 (Range = 1.25 to 4.50). Cronbach’s alpha for the eight-item Survey of Perceived
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