On the relationships of resilience with organizational commitment and burnout: a social exchange perspective

Abstract

The present study discussed whether social exchange would take effect in the relationship of resilience with organizational commitment and job burnout. It examined resilience as an antecedent of organizational commitment and burnout and the mediating role of leader–member exchange (LMX) and team–member exchange (TMX) in a sample of Chinese civil servants. Two hundred and thirty-six civil servants from a large east-coast city in the People’s Republic of China completed a questionnaire measuring resilience, LMX, TMX, organizational commitment, and burnout. Results based on structural equation modeling indicated that (a) resilience positively predicted LMX and TMX, and (b) LMX, rather than TMX, partially mediated the relationships of employee resilience with organizational commitment and job burnout. The present study provided valuable insights into the understudied mechanisms of resilience at workplace through the social exchange perspective; it also underscored the importance of the reciprocity between supervisors and subordinates in human management practice.