The Influence of Prior Commitment on the Reactions of Layoff Survivors to Organizational Downsizing.

Nurses (N := 179; Study 1) and managers (N = 154; Study 2) participated in 2 panel studies examining the relationship among prior commitment (affective and continuance commitment and perceived organizational support), coping strategies, and survivors' attitudes and perceptions during and following downsizing. In Study 1, perceived organizational support was significantly positively related to control-oriented coping, job satisfaction, and intention to remain and negatively related to perceived job insecurity and burnout 2 years later. In Study 2, coping mediated the relationship between the prior commitment variables and job alienation, health symptoms, and burnout following the downsizing. Control-oriented coping was associated with elevated levels of health symptoms and burnout following the downsizing, suggesting that control-oriented coping may have positive effects in the short term but potentially harmful effects in the long term. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature.

The authors reviewed more than 70 studies concerning employees' general belief that their work organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support; POS). A meta-analysis indicated that 3 major categories of beneficial treatment received by employees (i.e., fairness, supervisor support, and organizational rewards and favorable job conditions) were associated with POS. POS, in turn, was related to outcomes favorable to employees (e.g., job satisfaction, positive mood) and the organization (e.g., affective commitment, performance, and lessened withdrawal behavior). These relationships depended on processes assumed by organizational support theory: employees' belief that the organization's actions were discretionary, feeling of obligation to aid the organization, fulfillment of socioemotional needs, and performance-reward expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does pay for performance increase or decrease perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation?

Laboratory and field studies examined the relationships of reward for high performance with perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation. Study 1 found that pay for meeting a performance standard had positive effects on college students' perceived self-determination and competence, expressed task enjoyment, and free time spent performing the task. Furthermore, reward's incremental effect on expressed task enjoyment was mediated by perceived self-determination and competence. Study 2 established that perceived self-determination mediated positive relationships between employees' performance-reward expectancy and perceived organizational support, positive mood at work, and job performance. Study 3 demonstrated that performance-reward expectancy was positively related to employees' expressed interest in daily job activities, with this relationship being greater among employees having a high desire for control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reciprocation of perceived organizational support.

Four hundred thirteen postal employees were surveyed to investigate reciprocation's role in the relationships of perceived organizational support (POS) with employees' affective organizational commitment and job performance. The authors found that (a) POS was positively related to employees' felt obligation to care about the organization's welfare and to help the organization reach its objectives; (b) felt obligation mediated the associations of POS with affective commitment, organizational spontaneity, and in-role performance; and (c) the relationship between POS and felt obligation increased with employees' acceptance of the reciprocity norm as applied to work organizations. Positive mood also mediated the relationships of POS with affective commitment and organizational spontaneity. The pattern of findings is consistent with organizational support theory's assumption that POS strengthens affective commitment and performance by a reciprocation process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support: Inferior versus superior performance by wary employees.

Retail employees in Study 1 and employees from multiple organizations in Study 2 completed a questionnaire investigating the moderating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationship of employees' fear of exploitation in exchange relationships (reciprocation wariness) and their in-role and extra-role job performance. When POS was low, reciprocation wariness was negatively related to in-role and extra-role job performance. With high POS, reciprocation wariness was positively related to extra-role performance and either positively related to in-role performance (for retail employees) or showed no reliable relationship with in-role performance (for the multiorganizational sample). In deciding on their work effort, reciprocation-wary employees considered how much the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. Implications for employee–employer exchange relationships and workforce cynicism are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental effects of reward on creativity.

The authors examined 2 ways reward might increase creativity. First, reward contingent on creativity might increase extrinsic motivation. Studies 1 and 2 found that repeatedly giving preadolescent students reward for creative performance in 1 task increased their creativity in subsequent tasks. Study 3 reported that reward promised for creativity increased college students' creative task performance. Second, expected reward for high performance might increase creativity by enhancing perceived self-determination and, therefore, intrinsic task interest. Study 4 found that employees' intrinsic job interest mediated a positive relationship between expected reward for high performance and creative suggestions offered at work. Study 5 found that employees' perceived self-determination mediated a positive relationship between expected reward for high performance and the creativity of anonymous suggestions for helping the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived reciprocity, social support, and stress at work: The role of exchange and communal orientation.

Perceived reciprocity regarding support in relationships at work was examined among employees of a psychiatric hospital (Study 1) and in a study of employees of the Dutch National Railway Company (Study 2). Relationships with colleagues were more often perceived as reciprocal than relationships with superiors, and in relationships with superiors individuals more often felt overbenefited. Lack of reciprocity (being underbenefited or being overbenefited) was in general associated with negative affect, and these effects were independent of the effect of perceived job stress. In Study 2 it was also found that these effects were moderated by the individual-differences variables exchange orientation (the general expectation of immediate reciprocity) and communal orientation (a positive regard for the needs and feelings of others). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived supervisor support: Contributions to perceived organizational support and employee retention.

Three studies investigated the relationships among employees' perception of supervisor support (PSS), perceived organizational support (POS), and employee turnover. Study 1 found, with 314 employees drawn from a variety of organizations, that PSS was positively related to temporal change in POS, suggesting that PSS leads to POS. Study 2 established, with 300 retail sales employees, that the PSS-POS relationship increased with perceived supervisor status in the organization. Study 3 found, with 493 retail sales employees, evidence consistent with the view that POS completely mediated a negative relationship between PSS and employee turnover. These studies suggest that supervisors, to the extent that they are identified with the organization, contribute to POS and, ultimately, to job retention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Support from the top: Supervisors' perceived organizational support as a moderator of leader-member exchange to satisfaction and performance relationships.

The authors hypothesized that supervisors' perceived organizational support (POS) would moderate the relationships between leader-member exchange (LMX), job satisfaction, and job performance. On the basis of social exchange theory, supervisors' exchanges with the organization and subordinates should be interconnected. The authors expected that supervisors with high POS would have more resources to exchange with subordinates. Thus, supervisor POS should enhance the relationships between LMX and job satisfaction and LMX and job performance for subordinates. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis provided support for the hypotheses in a sample of 210 subordinates and 38 supervisors of a grocery store chain. The positive relationship between LMX and job satisfaction was stronger when supervisors had high POS. Moreover, LMX was related to performance only when supervisors had high POS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational commitment and job performance: It's the nature of the commitment that counts.

In this study, we examined relations between the performance of first-level managers in a large food service company and their affective commitment (i.e., emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization), continuance commitment (i.e., perceived costs associated with leaving the company), and job satisfaction. Commitment and satisfaction scores were correlated with three indexes of performance obtained from the managers' immediate supervisors. As predicted, affective commitment correlated positively and continuance commitment correlated negatively with all three measures of performance. Job satisfaction did not correlate significantly with performance ratings. The findings are interpreted as illustrating the importance of distinguishing between commitment based on desire and commitment based on need and as supporting organizational efforts to foster affective commitment in their employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-family enrichment and job performance: A constructive replication of affective events theory.

Based on affective events theory (AET), we hypothesize a four-step model of the mediating mechanisms of positive mood and job satisfaction in the relationship between work-family enrichment and job performance. We test this model for both directions of enrichment (work-to-family and family-to-work). We used two samples to test the model using structural equation modeling. Results from Study 1, which included 240 full-time employees, were replicated in Study 2, which included 189 matched subordinate-supervisor dyads. For the work-to-family direction, results from both samples support our conceptual model and indicate mediation of the enrichment-performance relationship for the work-to-family direction of enrichment. For the family-to-work direction, results from the first sample support our conceptual model but results from the second sample do not. Our findings help elucidate mixed findings in the enrichment and job performance literatures and contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms linking these concepts. We conclude with a discussion of the practical and theoretical implications of our findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using the Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) to investigate affective responses to work stressors.

Prior research linking job stressors to psychological strains has been limited to a small number of emotional reactions. This article describes research linking job stressors to a wide range of affective states at work. In Study 1, a multidimensional scaling procedure was used on a matrix of similarity judgments by 51 employees of 56 job-related affective statements to support a 2-dimensional view of affective well-being. In Study 2, ratings of the affect statements by 100 employees further supported the contention that the dimensions were pleasure–displeasure and degree of arousal. In Study 3, 114 full-time university employees responded to the Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale, which was found to be related to measures of job stressors as well as job satisfaction and physical symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader–member exchange and affective organizational commitment: The contribution of supervisor's organizational embodiment.

In order to account for wide variation in the relationship between leader–member exchange and employees' affective organizational commitment, we propose a concept termed supervisor's organizational embodiment (SOE), which involves the extent to which employees identify their supervisor with the organization. With samples of 251 social service employees in the United States (Study 1) and 346 employees in multiple Portuguese organizations (Study 2), we found that as SOE increased, the association between leader–member exchange and affective organizational commitment became greater. This interaction carried through to in-role and extra-role performance. With regard to antecedents, we found in Study 1 that supervisor's self-reported identification with the organization increased supervisor's expression of positive statements about the organization, which in turn increased subordinates' SOE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedents and outcomes of organizational support for development: The critical role of career opportunities.

This study examines antecedents and behavioral outcomes of employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We first propose that employees' past participation in formal developmental activities and experience with developmental relationships positively relate to their perceptions of organizational support for development. We then propose that perceived career opportunity within the organization moderates the relationship between organizational support for development and employee performance and turnover. Using a sample of 264 exempt-level employees and their supervisors, we found that participation in training classes, leader–member exchange, and career mentoring were each positively related to employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We also found support for the moderator hypotheses. Specifically, development support positively related to job performance, but only when perceived career opportunity within the organization was high. Further, development support was associated with reduced voluntary turnover when perceived career opportunity was high, but it was associated with increased turnover when perceived career opportunity was low. Our study demonstrates that social exchange and career motivation theory work together to explain when and how employees' perceptions of organizational support for development relate to turnover and job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to penalties for an offense in relation to authoritarianism, values, perceived responsibility, perceived seriousness, and deservingness.

Two studies involving participants from metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia (Study 1: N?=?220, Study 2: N?=?181) examined variables that were assumed to influence cognitive and affective reactions to penalties imposed for offenses relating to domestic violence, plagiarism, and shoplifting (in Study 1), and resisting a police order in a protest against logging (in Study 2). Results of path analyses supported a model that assumed paths linking perceived responsibility to the perceived seriousness of an offense; responsibility and seriousness to deservingness of the penalty; deservingness to the perceived harshness of the penalty, to reported positive affect about the penalty, and to reported sympathy for the offender; and perceived harshness of the penalty to reported positive affect and sympathy. Right-wing authoritarianism and relevant values had direct effects on perceived seriousness consistent with the assumption that values affect the way an offense is construed in relation to its negative valence or aversiveness. Deservingness had a central role as a mediator of reactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational stress and intention to leave among employees in small and medium enterprises.

This paper examines the relationship between the occupational stress of employees in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their intentions to leave the organization. A sample of 154 employees from SMEs completed written questionnaires. The responses from the sample are used to test the hypotheses that job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived organizational support (POS) will mediate the relationship between stress and intention to leave. The results of the regression analyses indicate that POS fully mediates the relationship between stress and intention to leave, while job satisfaction and affective commitment are partial mediators of the aforementioned relationship. The implications of the findings for management—particularly those in SMEs—are discussed, as are the limitations of the research and directions for future research in this domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support, discretionary treatment, and job satisfaction.

A diverse sample of 295 employees drawn from a variety of organizations was surveyed to investigate (a) whether the relationship between the favorableness of job conditions and perceived organizational support (POS) depends on employee perceptions concerning the organization's freedom of action and (b) whether POS and overall job satisfaction are distinct constructs. The favorableness of high-discretion job conditions was found to be much more closely associated with POS than was the favorableness of low-discretion job conditions. No such relationship was found between job conditions and satisfaction. To decide how much the organization values their contributions and well-being, employees distinguish job conditions whose favorableness the organization readily controls versus job conditions whose favorableness is constrained by limits on the organization's discretion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among organizational family support, job autonomy, perceived control, and employee well-being.

The authors analyzed data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (N = 3,504) to investigate relationships among availability of formal organizational family support (family benefits and alternative schedules), job autonomy, informal organizational support (work-family culture, supervisor support, and coworker support), perceived control, and employee attitudes and well-being. Using hierarchical regression, the authors found that the availability of family benefits was associated with stress, life satisfaction, and turnover intentions, and the availability of alternative schedules was not related to any of the outcomes. Job autonomy and informal organizational support were associated with almost all the outcomes, including positive spillover. Perceived control mediated most of the relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Volunteering for charity: Pride, respect, and the commitment of volunteers.

This study builds upon and extends the social-identity-based model of cooperation with the organization (T. R. Tyler, 1999; T. R. Tyler & S. L. Blader, 2000) to examine commitment and cooperative intent among fundraising volunteers. In Study 1, structural equation modeling indicated that pride and respect related to the intent to remain a volunteer with an organization, and that this relation was mediated primarily by normative organizational commitment. In Study 2, structural equation modeling indicated that the perceived importance of volunteer work was related to pride, that perceived organizational support related to the experience of respect, and that pride and respect mediated the relation between perceived importance and support on the one hand and organizational commitment on the other. Overall, the results suggest that volunteer organizations may do well to implement pride and respect in their volunteer policy, for instance to address the reliability problem (J. L. Pearce, 1993). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)