Person-Organization Value Congruence Mediates the Relationship between Job Resources and Collective Psychological Ownership: The Case of Social Workers in China

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that job resources are positively associated with collective psychological ownership (CPO) held by social service workers. However, the psychological mechanisms that may explain how job resources relate to CPO are still unclear. The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of person-organization (P-O) value congruence in the relationship between job resources and CPO among social workers. Using a nationally representative sample of social workers (N = 5,883) collected in the First Wave of the China Social Work Longitudinal Study in 2019 (the CSWLS 2019), the results showed that job resources were positively associated with CPO (p < .001), and that P-O value congruence partially mediated the effects of job resources on CPO (the proportion mediated = 39.2%). The findings highlight the importance of job resources manifested in autonomy and social support as well as value congruence for enhancing social workers’ CPO toward their work organizations. Implications for both research and practice were discussed. Future studies are suggested to examine other antecedents of CPO and P-O value congruence and how CPO is formulated and developed in organizational contexts of social work and other human helping professions.