Social Exchange Relationships Research Articles

Why Does Interactional Justice Promote Organizational Loyalty, Job Performance, and Prevent Mental Impairment? The Role of Social Support and Social Stressors

ABSTRACTUsing social exchange theory as a conceptual framework, we investigated the relationship between interactional justice and the outcomes organizational loyalty (affective commitment, turnover intentions), perceived job performance (self-rated performance, personal accomplishment), and mental impairment (cognitive irritation, emotional exhaustion) in an online survey of 218 employees working in the field of computer technology. Specifically, we predicted that interactional justice would heighten the quality of social exchange relationships and therefore expected perceived social support (POS) and bullying to mediate the proposed relationships. We tested our hypotheses applying a latent structural equation model. Our findings revealed that POS mediated the relationship between interactional justice and organizational loyalty, whereas bullying mediated the relationship between interactional justice and mental impairment. Practical implications are discussed concerning how to foster interactional justice and POS and how to weaken bullying behavior.

Followers’ agreeableness and extraversion and their loyalty towards authentic leadership

Effective leaders understand that loyal followers are the key for success. To win their loyalty, leaders usually build social exchange relationships with them, through a wide range of behaviours, such as honouring agreements or using open and transparent communication. However, the effect of these behaviours on their followers' loyalty can differ depending on followers' individual differences, especially in relational traits such as agreeableness and extraversion. We explored the moderating role of followers' agreeableness and extraversion in the relationship between authentic leadership (using transactional leadership as reference group) and followers' loyalty. A two-wave experiment, where 224 participants with and without work experience were randomly assigned to either a transactional or authentic leadership style condition was conducted. Our results show that followers in the authentic leadership condition had higher levels of loyalty toward their leader. Moreover, followers' agreeableness played a negative moderating role in this relationship whereas extraversion played a positive moderating role in it. Our results indicate that followers' characteristics influence the effect of situational factors on their attitudes, such as loyalty, providing support for the need of a more integrative approach to leadership, where followers need to be considered as active elements of this process ofinfluence.

Trust: Reality or illusion? A critical examination of Williamson

For Oliver Williamson, the concept of trust is useless (Williamson, O. E. [1993]. Calculativeness, trust, and economic organization. The Journal of Law and Economics, 36, 453–486). Whenever a calculative approach is possible, and he believes it is for economic and social exchange in general with the exception of relations between family, friends and lovers, cooperation becomes self-sustaining because it is founded exclusively on the convergence of interests. My critical examination bears on the generality and the realism of the conditions underlying this postulate, namely the presence of a common calculative space and the existence of a shared observational world. It tends to show in particular that Williamson confuses calculation and judgement and, as a result, he fails to disqualify the use of the notion of trust for either social exchange or market relations.

Adaptación al castellano de la Escala de Confianza General de Yamagishi.

The significance that trust has in social exchange relationships has led to a growing amount of literature dealing with this phenomenon at a theoretical and an applied level. With the aim of conducting trust research by means of an instrument with established reliability and validity, the General Trust Scale (Yamagishi & Yamagishi, 1994) was translated into Spanish. The sample comprised 626 participants. Results indicate that the Spanish adaptation has satisfactory psychometric properties: test's reliability (α =.862) and items' discrimination (a ≥ 1.58). There was no differential item functioning regarding the participants’ gender, but differences aroused as regards to their age. The relationship with several dispositional and behavioral variables was assessed, being significant its correlation with agreeableness (r =.376) and, for the women, also with Openness to Experience (r =.135).

Examining the Antecedents of Family-Supportive Supervisory Behaviors

Family supportive supervisory behaviors (FSSB) have important workplace outcomes such as reducing work-family conflict and turnover intentions and improving job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Despite the extensive literature on the benefits of FSSBs, far less is known about why some supervisors are more supportive of their employees’ work-family needs than others. In order for organizations to successfully leverage FSSBs as an effective approach to help employees better manage their work and family demands, more research is needed to understand the determinants of FSSB. The contributors to this symposium address this gap in the literature through adopting distinctive but complementary theoretical and empirical perspectives on the conditions and characteristics that either enhance or impede FSSB. The four papers examine leadership behaviors, perceptions of social exchange relationships, job satisfaction, workplace events, and workplace interventions as explanatory factors that provide insight into the determinants of FSSB. As such, the contributions to this symposium help to enhance our understanding of the antecedents of FSSB. The Role of FSSBs on Psychological Distress: A Longitudinal Randomized Field Control Study Presenter: Ellen Ernst Kossek; Purdue U. Presenter: Katie Lawson; Pennsylvania State U. Presenter: Todd Bodner; Portland State U. Presenter: Rebecca J Thompson; Purdue U. Presenter: David Almeida; Pennsylvania State U. Presenter: Leslie B. Hammer; Portland State U. Presenter: Phyllis Moen; U. of Minnesota Presenter: Orfeu Buxton; Harvard U. Quality of leader-member exchange and FSSBs: A school-level study of principals and teachers Presenter: Russell A. Matthews; Bowling Green State U. Presenter: Benjamin Walsh; U. of Illinois Springfield Presenter: Rachel C Trout; Louisiana State U. Presenter: Julie Holliday Wayne; Wake Forest U. Presenter: Sara McKersie; Bowling Green State U. Leadership Antecedents of FSSBs: The Role of Theory X Beliefs And Bottom-Line Mentality Presenter: Blythe L Rosikiewicz; Drexel U. Presenter: Katrina A. Graham; Drexel U. Presenter: Jaclyn Margolis; Drexel U. Presenter: Jeffrey H. Greenhaus; Drexel U. FSSBs and Dynamic Shifts in Negative Work Events and Job Satisfaction Presenter: David E. Caughlin; Portland State U. Presenter: Leslie B. Hammer; Portland State U. Presenter: Todd Bodner; Portland State U. Presenter: Ellen Ernst Kossek; Purdue U. Presenter: Phyllis Moen; U. of Minnesota Presenter: Orfeu Buxton; Harvard U.

Workplace Social Exchange: Substitutes and Neutralizers of LMX in Team Contexts

The purpose of this study is to develop an integrated theoretical model of the simultaneous interplay of social exchange relationships with a supervisor (leader-member exchange: LMX) and fellow team members (team-member exchange: TMX) in organizational contexts. The model extends current theories related to LMX and TMX by integrating ideas from self-determination theory, identity-orientation theory, and a theory of team types to describe how these two relational variables combine to influence outcomes such as job satisfaction and job performance. Using longitudinal, multisource data from 439 employees on 61 teams, the results show a substitute effect in which high TMX buffers the negative effects of low-quality LMX on job satisfaction and job performance. Moreover, both a low relational identity and low authority differentiation within the team demonstrate a neutralizing effect on the otherwise positive effects of LMX.

Job involvement and performance among middle managers in Sri Lanka

This paper examines performance evaluation outcomes for middle managers in the garment sector in Sri Lanka and seeks to explain variations in levels of job involvement and perceptions of organizational support. Some 155 middle managers across three firms were segregated into high- and low-performing groups. High-performing managers tended to have higher perceptions of organizational support, resulting in a social exchange relationship with their employer, and expressed higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions. Managers assessed as low performers experienced more negative perceptions of organizational support, lower job satisfaction and an economic exchange relationship with their employer. Significantly, for both high and low performers these outcomes were moderated by job involvement. These findings highlight the need for organizations to pay careful attention to the factors influencing job involvement and perceived organizational support. The paper concludes with a discussion on the practical implications of the findings for human resource managers.

Beyond social exchange: Collectivism’s moderating role in the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviour

Perceived organizational support plays an important role in the social exchange relationship between the employee and the organization. We propose that individual differences in collectivism affect the extent to which employee–organization relationships are based on social exchange, and that therefore collectivism moderates the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviour. Results of a survey (N = 293) assessing perceived organizational support, collectivism, and supervisor ratings of organizational citizenship behaviour supported this hypothesis. We conclude that organizational citizenship behaviour originates from social exchange processes only among employees who construe the self in relatively individualistic terms.

Reputation Formation and the Evolution of Cooperation in Anonymous Online Markets

Theoretical propositions stressing the importance of trust, reciprocity, and reputation for cooperation in social exchange relations are deeply rooted in classical sociological thought. Today’s online markets provide a unique opportunity to test these theories using unobtrusive data. Our study investigates the mechanisms promoting cooperation in an online-auction market where most transactions can be conceived as one-time-only exchanges. We first give a systematic account of the theoretical arguments explaining the process of cooperative transactions. Then, using a large dataset comprising 14,627 mobile phone auctions and 339,517 DVD auctions, we test key hypotheses about the effects of traders’ reputations on auction outcomes and traders’ motives for leaving feedback. Our statistical analyses show that sellers with better reputations have higher sales and obtain higher prices. Furthermore, we observe a high rate of participation in the feedback system, which is largely consistent with strong reciprocity—a predisposition to unconditionally reward (or punish) one’s interaction partner’s cooperation (or defection)—and altruism—a predisposition to increase one’s own utility by elevating an interaction partner’s utility. Our study demonstrates how strong reciprocity and altruism can mitigate the free-rider problem in the feedback system to create reputational incentives for mutually beneficial online trade.

An empirical examination of service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this study is twofold. First, we explore the relationship between organizational justice and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (SOCB). In particular, we focus on perceived distributive and procedural justice. Second, we examine the moderating effect of the need for achievement and need for affiliation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed an online cross-sectional survey approach and distributed questionnaires to service employees at a large service organization. Data were analyzed with a two-step structural equation modeling technique using LISREL 8.7. Findings – Perceived procedural justice significantly predicts SOCB. Additionally, the need for affiliation positively moderates the relationship between perceived procedural justice and SOCB, whereas the need for achievement positively moderates the relationship between perceived distributive justice and SOCB. Practical implications – Results confirm the importance of establishing and implementing transparent formal organizational processes and procedures for evaluating outcomes of service employees. We recommend service organizations to communicate proactively with employees about how formal organizational systems are implemented, and provide employees with examples and cases that illustrate how performance appraisals are performed. Moreover, supervisors in service organizations need to establish and maintain high quality of social exchange relationships with employees by providing personal coaching and counseling. Furthermore, service organizations need to establish a positive and friendly performance appraisal environment and offer trainings on how to satisfy unpredictable customer demand to employees. Originality/value – Given the growth of commercial services in the USA and the limited existing knowledge on SOCB, this study provides scholars and practitioner with suggestions and recommendations on how SOCB can be encouraged in service settings.

Aligning principal and agent’s incentives: A principal–agent perspective of social networking sites

The viability of networked communities depends on the creation and disclosure of user-generated content and the frequency of user visitation (Facebook 10-K Annual Report, 2012). However, little is known about how to align the interests of user and social networking sites. In this study, we draw upon the principal-agent perspective to extend Pavlou et al.’s uncertainty mitigation model of online exchange relationships (2007) and propose an empirically tested model for aligning the incentives of the principal (user) and the agent (service provider). As suggested by Pavlou et al., we incorporated a multi-dimensional measure of trust: trust of provider and trust of members. The proposed model is empirically tested with survey data from 305 adults aged 20-55. The results support our model, delineating how real individuals with bounded rationality actually make decision about information disclosure under uncertainty in the social networking site context. There is show little to no relationship between online privacy concerns and information disclosure on online social network sites. Perceived benefits provide the linkage between the incentives of principal (user) and agent (provider) while usage intensity demonstrated the most significant impact on information disclosure. We argue that the phenomenon may be explained through Communication Privacy Management Theory. The present study enhances our understanding of agency theory and human judgment theory in the context of social media. Practical implications for understanding and facilitating online social exchange relationships are also discussed.

Social Exchange Implications of Own and CoWorkers' Experiences of Supervisory Abuse

This study examines how the quality of individuals’ social exchange relationships with their leaders and separately, their work unit peers, mediate the interactive effects of abusive supervision directed toward themselves (own abusive supervision) and toward their work unit peers (peer abusive supervision) on individual task performance and helping behavior directed toward coworkers. Testing the model using a sample of 358 workers from 25 organizations, we found support for our hypotheses that leader– member exchange (LMX) and affect-based trust in peers each partially mediated the interactive effects of own and peer abusive supervision. Workers that exhibited high levels of task performance and engaged in more helping behaviors tended to have both low own abusive supervision and low peer abusive supervision. Own abusive supervision was unrelated to the behavioral outcomes among workers whose peers were victims of supervisory abuse. We discuss the implications of relational dynamics with peers and the immediate supervisor for understanding the scope of the impact of abusive supervision on follower outcomes.

How to take care of nurses in your organization: two types of exchange relationships compared

To explore the relationships between climate for well-being, economic and social exchange, affective ward commitment and job strain among nurses in the Netherlands. This study focuses on the immediate work environment of nurses by exploring the way nurse perceptions about the extent to which the ward values and cares for their welfare influence their levels of affective ward commitment and job strain. Second, this study extends previous research on exchange relationships by examining the potential differential impact of social and economic exchange relationships on commitment and job strain. A cross-sectional survey among nurses. The study was conducted in the Netherlands in 2011. Validated measures of climate for well-being, social exchange, economic exchange, ward commitment and job strain were used. Hypotheses were tested using regression analyses. MacKinnon etal.'s (2007) guidelines to assess mediation were used. The response rate was 41% (271 questionnaires). The results show that climate for well-being positively influences social exchange relationships, which are in turn associated with enhanced ward commitment and reduced strain. Climate for well-being negatively influences evaluations of economic exchange, which are in turn negatively related to ward commitment. This study shows that nurses use the information available in their immediate work environment to evaluate their exchange relationship with the organization. Second, the findings point towards the importance of economic and social exchange relationships as a mechanism between climate for well-being on the one hand and affective ward commitment and job strain on the other hand.

Outcomes associated with breach and fulfillment of the psychological contract of safety

IntroductionThe study investigated the outcomes associated with breach and fulfillment of the psychological contract of safety. MethodThe psychological contract of safety is defined as the beliefs of individuals about reciprocal employer and employee safety obligations inferred from implicit or explicit promises. When employees perceive that safety obligations promised by the employer have not been met, a breach of the psychological contract occurs, termed employer breach of obligations. The extent to which employees fulfill their safety obligations to the employer is termed employee fulfillment of obligations. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of safety that investigated the positive and negative outcomes associated with breach and fulfillment of the psychological contract of safety. Participants were 424 health care workers recruited from two hospitals in the State of Victoria, Australia. ResultsFollowing slight modification of the hypothesized model, a good fitting model resulted. Being injured in the workplace was found to lower perceptions of trust in the employer and increase perceptions of employer breach of safety obligations. Trust in the employer significantly influenced perceived employer breach of safety obligations such that lowered trust resulted in higher perceptions of breach. Perceptions of employer breach significantly impacted employee fulfillment of safety obligations with high perceptions of breach resulting in low employee fulfillment of obligations. Trust and perceptions of breach significantly influenced safety attitudes, but not safety behavior. Fulfillment of employee safety obligations significantly impacted safety behavior, but not safety attitudes. Implications of these findings for safety and psychological contract research are explored. A positive emphasis on social exchange relationships in organizations will have positive outcomes for safety climate and safety behavior.

Competency Models at Work: The Value of Perceived Relevance and Fair Rewards for Employee Outcomes

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to generate empirical knowledge on how employees perceive and respond to competency models at work. A cross‐sectional survey of 278 employees in four Norwegian organizations showed that competency models perceived as strategically and personally relevant and fairly rewarded were positively related to supervisor‐rated work effort and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and self‐rated “employability” outcomes. Exchange relationships mediated the link between competency model perceptions and work effort and OCB. Social exchange relationships marginally mediated the link between competency model perceptions and employees' openness to job‐related changes and engagement in activities aimed at improving one's employability. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social interactions and intentions to revisit for agritourism service encounters

This study addresses how agritourists' social interactions affect their satisfaction and, in turn, revisit intentions. Adopting social exchange theory and resource theory, the study proposes that social interactions with service providers, local residents, companion tourists, and other customers influence satisfaction, which in turn affects revisit intentions. For this, an onsite survey was conducted to examine the proposed model and test the hypotheses. Subjects (N = 266) were tourists who visited farms. All, but one of the hypotheses were supported or partially supported by the data and the proposed model also had an acceptable fit. Results provide direction for the development of a theoretical framework to understand revisit intentions by seeking to improve the social exchange relationships with agritourists. In addition, the results call for the incorporation of social interactions as a component of the agritourism servicescape.

Evading Ostracism: A Look at Critical Role of Organizational and Supervisory Support

This study entails the importance of social support at work to avoid feelings of ostracism and its negative consequences. This study is based on the literature survey approach. While going through from the literature an attempt has been made to find out the ways to overcome ostracism and its negative consequences. While finding the directions to overcome the issue, both individual and organizational factors were directed by previous researchers. No one in previous studies has discussed the role of social exchange relations in overcoming ostracism. This study, theoretically, proves that how ostracism can be reduced with the help of social support at work.

De ideale ‘Idiosyncratic-deal’

The ideal I-deal: Organizational citizenship behavior and the impact of the exchange relationship The ideal I-deal: Organizational citizenship behavior and the impact of the exchange relationship Idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) are personal and voluntary agreements which individual employees negotiate with their employer. The current study investigated the relations of different types of I-deals with organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) of employees. Moreover, we investigated the moderating role of social exchange relationship. Hypotheses were tested on data of 210 employees working in different organizations. Results showed that the associations of I-deals with OCB depended upon the type of I-deal, with task and responsibility I-deals and schedule flexibility I-deals being directly related. A strong social exchange relationship with the organization enhanced the associations of schedule flexibility I-deals and location flexibility I-deals with OCB. Financial I-deals contributed to higher OCB only for employees with an economic exchange relationship.

Coping Mechanisms as Antecedents of Justice and Organization Citizenship Behaviors: A Multi-Focal Perspective of the Social Exchange Relationship

The purpose of this study was to examine approach and avoidance coping strategies in the context of a natural disaster as antecedents of justice and organizational citizenship behavior. Using a multi-focal perspective of social exchange theory, the study uses both reciprocity and rationality to enhance the theoretical underpinnings of behavior in a justice context. Survey data was collected from full-time employees who had experienced a hurricane three weeks earlier (n = 255). The differences between approach and avoidance coping are clear in the results suggesting that coping strategy helps account for individual differences in justice perceptions. Findings demonstrated that employees who use approach coping strategies had higher perceptions of justice and higher levels of organizational citizenship behavior while employees who use avoidance coping strategies had lower perceptions of justice and lower levels of organizational citizenship behavior. This has implications for employers who could introduce coping skills training as a practical means of assisting employees in a disaster situation.

A social exchange perspective of the individual guanxi network

PurposeUsing the social exchange perspective, the aim of this research is to add value to the construct by looking at direct and indirect effects through perceived organizational support (POS) and leader‐member exchange (LMX) of the guanxi network in job involvement, and ultimately the effect of job involvement on in‐role performance.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was used as the medium for data collection. A total of 458 respondents took part in research at two points of time. Respondents were selected using random sampling technique from hotels of western part of Malaysia. Descriptive statistics, CFA, and SEM were used for this purpose.FindingsFindings of the study reveal that individual guanxi network significantly contributes towards social exchange relations (POS and LMX), and employees' job involvement. The individual guanxi network has both direct and indirect effects on job involvement, which confirms that individual guanxi network affects involvement through social exchange relations, i.e. POS and LMX; it also confirms the basic notion of individual guanxi network (social relations with norm of reciprocity).Research limitations/implicationsThis study covers only hotel employees working in Western Malaysia. Other sectors can be selected for future research endeavours with a larger sample size.Practical implicationsOne obvious implication of this research is that management should utilize the guanxi network of employees, which can result in increasing involvement and improved performance.Originality/valueThe main contributions of the study contain: consideration of LMX as a mediator and explaining the social exchange essence of individual guanxi network.