Social Exchange Relationships Research Articles

Looking at Both Sides of the Social Exchange Coin: A Social Cognitive Perspective on the Joint Effects of Relationship Quality and Differentiation on Creativity

We propose a cross-level contingent process model based on social cognitive theory to explain how and when the quality of social exchange relationships with a supervisor (leader-member exchange; LMX) and fellow team members (team-member exchange; TMX) affect individual creativity in work teams. Using longitudinal, multisource data for 828 employees on 116 teams, we found LMX and TMX had unique indirect effects on employee creativity via self-efficacy. Further, moderated path analysis revealed LMX differentiation attenuated LMX quality's direct effect on self-efficacy and indirect effect on creativity, whereas TMX differentiation augmented TMX quality's direct effect on self-efficacy and indirect effect on creativity.

The Effect of Hotel Culinarian's Psychological Ownership Based upon Social Exchange Relations on His Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

The Effect of Hotel Culinarian's Psychological Ownership Based upon Social Exchange Relations on His Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

The Effect of Hotel Culinarian's Psychological Ownership Based upon Social Exchange Relations on His Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

The Effect of Hotel Culinarian's Psychological Ownership Based upon Social Exchange Relations on His Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Breach Begets Breach: Trickle-Down Effects of Psychological Contract Breach on Customer Service

Adopting a multifoci approach to psychological contract breach (i.e., breach by the organization referent and breach by the supervisor referent), the authors propose a trickle-down model of breach. Results from three studies show that supervisor perceptions of organizational breach are negatively related to supervisor citizenship behaviors toward the subordinate, resulting in subordinate perceptions of supervisory breach. Subordinate breach perceptions are, in turn, negatively related to subordinate citizenship behaviors toward the customer and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. The findings demonstrate the interconnected nature of social exchange relationships at work and draw attention to the effects of breach for other employees and customers.

The role of justice and social exchange relationships in workplace deviance: Test of a mediated model

Using data collected on two occasions spaced apart by three months ( N = 602), we examined the relationships between a) distributive, procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice (measured at Time 1) and b) perceived organizational support (POS), leader—member exchange (LMX), and organization- and supervisor-directed deviance (measured at Time 2). We found that POS fully mediated the relationship of procedural justice but not distributive justice to organization-directed deviance. In addition, LMX fully mediated the relationships of informational justice and interpersonal justice to both supervisor-directed deviance and organization-directed deviance. The implications of these findings for the study of justice and social exchange relationships as predictors of workplace deviance are discussed.

Chutes Versus Ladders: Anchoring Events and a Punctuated-Equilibrium Perspective on Social Exchange Relationships

We integrate concepts from research on emotion and memory to show how critical exchanges—or anchoring events—can suddenly and durably change the rules for organizational relationships, leading them to reach nonreciprocal forms like altruism or competition. We define these events and discuss the likelihood of their occurring as a function of the current state of the relationship, the time in that state of the relationship, and the social context in which the event takes place.

Family supportive organization perceptions and employee outcomes: the mediating effects of life satisfaction

Social exchange theory was used to understand employee perceptions of organizational support for work–family issues in this study of 373 employees from 40 New Zealand firms. These perceptions of family support were found to positively influence job and life satisfaction, and negatively influence turnover intentions and job burnout. Consequently, there is strong support for firms supporting work–family issues leading employees to reciprocate with superior outcomes. In addition, the mediating effects of life satisfaction were explored, as there have been calls to test the effects of existing relationships outside the workplace. While life satisfaction was not found to fully mediate any attitude, it did partially mediate all outcomes. Similarly, life satisfaction was also a significant predictor of all outcomes. This indicates that the role of firms in providing a supportive work–family climate is important and can consistently contribute to employee outcomes. Furthermore, the role of non-work attitudes is also important to acknowledge, and highlights the need to explore non-work aspects as potential mediators of work outcomes in social exchange relationships.

The Route to Employability: Individually Designed or Relationally Negotiated?

In an online survey among 632 employees and their supervisors working in seven Dutch hospitals, we investigated whether the route to employability is either individually designed or relationally negotiated. With regard to the individual route, we expected that a proactive personality would be positively related to job crafting and negatively related to job plateauing; in turn, job crafting would lead to high employability as assessed by employees’ supervisors, whereas job plateauing would lead to low employability. With regard to the relational route, we expected that a social exchange relationship would lead to the negotiation of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) between employees and their supervisors; in turn, i-deals would be positively related to employability as assessed by employees’ supervisors. Results show that the route to employability is mixed. Specifically, job plateauing appeared to mediate between a social exchange relationship and employability. Limitations of this study and recommendations for practitioners are discussed. Specifically, we recommend organizations to invest in social exchange relationships, for example by having HR advisers act as process facilitators who use mediation skills in order to stimulate creative dialogue between employees and their supervisors.

Psychological contract breach and work performance

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate how social exchanges modify the relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance. It aims to present two concurrent hypotheses, based on theoretical interaction effects of social exchanges (conceptualized as social exchange relationships, POS, and trust).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of 266 employees in a service sector company in the USA. Regression analysis was used to explore the moderating effects of social exchanges on the relationships between psychological contract breach and work performance (operationalized as in‐role behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors).FindingsIt was found that the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance was moderated by social exchanges, such that the relationship was stronger for employees with high social exchange relationship, perceived organizational support, and trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected cross‐sectionally, and thus causal inferences have to be made with caution. Moreover, the data were collected from a single source. The study shows that the relations between contract breach and outcomes are moderated by the existing relationship between employee and organization.Practical implicationsAlthough organizations may invest in long‐term relationships with their employees, psychological contract breaches have a profound impact on work performance. Therefore, organizations should diminish perceptions of contract breach; for instance by providing realistic expectations.Originality/valueThe paper provides new theoretical insights on how social exchange can have two distinct effects on the breach‐outcomes relations. It shows that social exchanges moderate the relations between contract breach and work performance.

Does Treating the Permanent Workforce Well Matter to Temporary Employees?

The article focuses on a study by Bard Kuvaas and Anders Dysvik testing their hypothesis that the development opportunities for permanent employees affect how temporary employees view their positions, their job behavior, and their social exchange relationship with the organization. The authors note that Kuvaas and Dysvik employ a social information processing perspective in which the social climate of an organization is a factor. The authors report that this hypothesis was validated in Kuvaas and Dysvik's survey of 375 temporary employees.

Does Treating the Permanent Workforce Well Matter to Temporary Employees?

The article focuses on a study by Bard Kuvaas and Anders Dysvik testing their hypothesis that the development opportunities for permanent employees affect how temporary employees view their positions, their job behavior, and their social exchange relationship with the organization. The authors note that Kuvaas and Dysvik employ a social information processing perspective in which the social climate of an organization is a factor. The authors report that this hypothesis was validated in Kuvaas and Dysvik's survey of 375 temporary employees.

‘First, get to know them’: a relational view of organizational socialization

An important episode in workplace learning is the socialization of newly hired people into the organization. Typically, the literature conceptualizes the socialization of new employees as a learning process whereby the newcomer is responsible for learning to fit into the organization. This perspective seems to underestimate the social influences of co-workers and managers. Research and theorizing on social exchange and interpersonal relationships identify the quality of relationships between members of a group as a fundamental factor moderating the quality and outcomes of other interactions related to learning and work. This paper presents the findings of a recent study of organizational socialization experienced by new engineers recently hired into a large, global manufacturing company based in the US. Results of this qualitative case study explore and explain the socialization process from a relational perspective providing compelling evidence that relationship building is a primary driver of the socialization process in organizations.

Tit for tat? Predictors of temporary agency workers' commitments

The temporary workforce is a small but increasing proportion of the labor market in most industrialized countries. It has been argued that the competitive advantage of temporary work agencies will be increasingly determined by their capacity to retain a committed workforce of temporary agency workers. Hence, we investigated temporary agency workers' commitment to their client organization and also their temporary work agency. Normative and affective commitments were predicted by perceived organizational support (POS) in the case of both entities, supporting the idea that these types of commitment are governed by a social exchange relationship. Continuance commitment was not associated with POS or placement-related variables. Unexpectedly, agency temps' commitments did not differ across the two entities. The results suggest that client organizations and temporary work agencies can each strive to achieve greater affective and normative commitments from agency temps, through POS-related activities, without compromising agency temps' commitments to the other entity.

Fairness in human resource management, social exchange relationships, and citizenship behavior: testing linkages of the target similarity model among nurses in the United States

The current study tests key linkages of the target similarity model by examining relationships among multifoci justice, social exchange, and supervisor ratings of employee citizenship behavior. We found support for the model when examining three different workplace targets simultaneously (i.e., the organization as a whole, supervisors, and workgroup members) using a sample of hospital nurses in the United States. Specifically, we found that: (1) employee perceptions of workgroup fairness, supervisor fairness, and organizational fairness differentially and positively predicted perceived workgroup support (PGS), perceived supervisor support (PSS), and perceived organizational support (POS), respectively and (2) PGS, PSS, and POS differentially and positively predicted citizenship behavior toward the workgroup, toward the supervisor, and toward the organization, respectively. Theoretical and practical implications for the strategic management of human resources are discussed, as are limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

Social Exchange in Work Settings: Content, Process, and Mixed Models

Social exchange theory has provided the dominant basis for understanding exchange relationships in organizational settings. Despite its predominance within the management field, there are a number of unaddressed issues. This special issue seeks to further social exchange research in work settings. We differentiate social from economic exchange and highlight the moderating role of cultural and individual differences in explaining the outcomes associated with social exchange relationships. We introduce the ideas of content, process, and mixed models of exchange to reflect the different emphases given to the amount and type of resources exchanged, the quality of the relationship, and a combination of both. The five papers in this special issue illustrate these models. We discuss the applicability of social exchange theory across cultural contexts and present suggestions for future research.

An integrated model of customer social exchange relationship: the moderating role of customer experience

This article addresses how the customer social exchange relationship affects customer satisfaction and, in turn, repurchase intention. On the basis of the stimulus–organism–response model, this article argues that perceived organisational support, perceived customer support, and perceived service provider support influence customer satisfaction, which in turn affects repurchase intention. Furthermore, this study argues that perceived organisational support is the most important predictor of customer satisfaction for high-experience customers, whereas perceived customer support is the most important predictor of customer satisfaction for low-experience customers. A survey of 144 users of the foreign language institute on a university reveals that most of these hypotheses are supported.

The Dynamics of Sustained Environmental Resource Crisis in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: A Theoretical Periscope

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria witnessed a remarkable upsurge inenvironmental resource crisis as a result of the presence of oil multinationals in the region. The mass media flash before the public a vivid and multi varied images of violent behaviour that characterized social interactions in the region. The youths in the Niger Delta whose occupational aspirations are blocked due to persistent hydrocarbon extraction in their region resorted to violent behaviour as a rational response to the monumental deprivation and marginalization by the multinational oil companies and their accomplice in the Nigerian state. The paper adopts George Homan’s social exchange theory in providing understanding for the sustained environmental resource crisis. The paper argues that the sustenance of youth violent oriented behaviour is a natural outgrowth of the social exchange relationship that exist between people of oil bearing communities and the various actors in the hydrocarbon extraction companies. The paper suggests the options of real fiscal autonomy for the federating units, resource control, creating employment and skill acquisition scheme for the displaced youths as mitigation measures to curb the age long environmental resource crisis in the Niger Delta.

Gift Exchange in The Workplace: Money or Attention?

We develop a model of manager-employee relationships where employees care more for their manager when they are more convinced that their manager cares for them. Managers can signal their altruistic feelings towards their employees in two ways: by offering a generous wage and by giving attention. Contrary to the traditional gift-exchange hypothesis, we show that altruistic managers may offer lower wages and nevertheless build up better social-exchange relationships with their employees than egoistic managers do. In such equilibria, a low wage signals to employees that the manager has something else to offer—namely, attention—which will induce the employee to stay at the firm and work hard. Our predictions are well in line with some recent empirical findings about gift exchange in the field. (JEL: D86, J41, M50, M54, M55)

Idiosyncratic deals: Coworkers as interested third parties.

Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals for short) are personalized employment arrangements negotiated between individual workers and employers and intended to benefit them both (D. M. Rousseau, 2005). Coworkers' acceptance of another's i-deal can ultimately impact its overall effectiveness for the organization. By using a network approach to the study of work group dynamics, this research addresses the contributions coworker relationships with both the i-dealer and their employer make to coworker's willingness to accept a peer's i-deal. In a study of 65 employees in 20 research and development groups, coworker acceptance of i-deals is greater for group members who are their close personal friends than for members who are not. The coworkers' social exchange relationship with their employers is positively related to acceptance, while economic exchange is negatively related. Coworkers' belief in the likelihood of obtaining comparable future opportunity is positively related to their acceptance of another's i-deal. Results suggest that the relationship of both economic and social exchange with acceptance is likely to be mediated by beliefs regarding comparable future opportunity. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.

Not All Responses to Breach are the Same: The Interconnection of Social Exchange and Psychological Contract Processes in Organizations

We examined psychological contract breach and violation as they occur within social exchange relationships to account for employee outcomes. Results of a longitudinal study suggested that contract breach partially mediated the effects of perceived organizational support (POS) and leader-member exchange (LMX) (time 1 measures) on intentions to quit (time 2 measure). POS and LMX moderated the relationship between breach and violation (time 2 measure). Violation fully mediated the effects of breach on commitment and trust and partially mediated the effect of breach on turnover intentions. These findings highlight the interconnection of social exchange and psychological contract processes.