Social Exchange Relationships Research Articles

CONTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL RELATED ATTRIBUTES ON JOB SATISFACTION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY ON SCHOOL TEACHERS IN NEPAL

Job satisfaction among school teachers is considered to be one of the crucial aspects in the arena of educational leadership and organizational behaviour. In addition, the question of if school associated attributes contribute to school settings has become a hot cake in the present context. Amidst this, the study aims to examine the job satisfaction of school teachers across their school related attributes. For achieving this purpose, a cross-sectional survey was employed embracing post-positivist paradigm among 345 school teachers from Dhading district, Nepal who were the respondents of this study. The data were collected through questionnaire, analysed with parametric test, and encompassed social exchange theory for discussing the findings of this study. From the study, it was revealed that job satisfaction of teachers is influenced by the school type, and service periods. In addition, the job nature and educational qualification was also found to be contributing to add pleasure in job considering pay and work environment respectively. Furthermore, the school related attributes were discovered to be assisted by social exchange relations and motivated the teachers towards job satisfaction. Finally, the study indicates that the teachers who are satisfied in their jobs demonstrate the high level of organizational citizenship behaviour, job performance, commitment, and retention in school. As a result, it ultimately benefits the school by increasing their work productivity and academic success.

Effects of Psychological Ownership, Self-leadership, and Social Exchange Relationships on Innovative Behavior of Military Hospital Personnel

Effects of Psychological Ownership, Self-leadership, and Social Exchange Relationships on Innovative Behavior of Military Hospital Personnel

Dyadic Viability in Project Teams: the Impact of Liking, Competence, and Task Interdependence

Drawing from social exchange theory and the relational approach to social exchange relationships, we examine liking and competence judgments as predictors of dyadic viability, a new, complementary, operationalization of team viability. We also consider team-level task interdependence as a moderator of these dyadic relationships. Based on data from dyads nested within project teams, we found that both liking and competence significantly relate to teammates’ dyadic viability. Additionally, task interdependence at the team level significantly moderates the dyadic-level effects of liking and competence on dyadic viability, such that the effect of liking judgments is stronger when team task interdependence is high, and the effect of competence judgments is stronger when team task interdependence is low. We also show that aggregated (across team members) measures of dyadic viability are highly similar to proxies that have been classified as team viability in the past—team satisfaction and cohesion. However, the moderating effect of task interdependence was not found with these team-level measures.

The relationship between attachment style and creativity: The mediating roles of LMX and TMX

ABSTRACTThe capacity and willingness of employees to deploy their creativity in the pursuit of organisational goals is a cornerstone of many organisations’ competitive advantage. Drawing on the actor-context interactionist perspective on creativity, we propose that insecure attachment styles act as distal antecedents that reduce employee creativity through the mediating role of social exchange relationships (i.e., leader-member exchange [LMX] and team-member exchange [TMX]). To test the proposed model, data were gathered from 192 employees and their respective supervisors in 12 engineering organisations. Hierarchical multiple regression and Monte Carlo mediation using the lme4 and mediation packages in R was performed to test the proposed hypotheses. Results revealed that while high quality LMX and TMX relationships are positively associated with creativity, insecure attachment styles have significant negative effects on employees’ perception of the quality of their LMX and TMX relationships, which, in turn, lead to lower creative output. Taken together, our results reveal the important influence of insecure attachment styles on creativity and in particular highlight the central role of leader-follower and team member relations as underlying mechanisms in this regard. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice.

Is the employee-organization relationship dying or thriving? A temporal meta-analysis.

There is controversy concerning whether, in recent years, organizational failures to act benevolently toward employees have lessened employees' social-exchange relationship (SER) with their work organization or whether, on the contrary, organizations' more favorable treatment of employees has strengthened the SER. With samples of U.S. employees, we examined changes over the past 3 decades in three key elements of the SER: perceived organizational support (POS: 317 samples, including 121,469 individuals), leader-member exchange (LMX: 191 samples, including 216,975 individuals), and affective organizational commitment (383 samples, including 116,766 individuals). We considered both how the average levels changed over time and how the associations of these 3 elements with the antecedents of procedural and distributive justice and the consequences of in-role and extra-role performance have changed. We found that the average levels of indicators of the SER have remained steady except for an increase in POS. LMX and affective commitment show levels near neutral, and POS has increased to only a moderately positive level. In contrast, the relationships between these elements with distributive and procedural justice and extra-role performance remain substantial. These findings suggest that employees on average do not currently have strong exchange relationships with their work organization but remain ready to more fully engage based on perceived voluntary favorable treatment by the work organization and its representatives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Organization Alumni Endorsement of Their Former Employer: “I Like You. Do You (Still) Like Me?”

This study investigates the quality of social exchange relationships of former employees, or organizational alumni (OA), with their former employer. An OA’s willingness to endorse is examined as pr...

The influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality and employee bottom-line mentality on leader-member exchange and subsequent employee performance

Are supervisors who care more about profits than employee well-being seen by employees as being good exchange partners? How do employees perceive and respond to supervisors who treat the bottom line as more important than anything else? Supervisors who hold a bottom-line mentality (BLM) neglect competing priorities such as employee well-being and ethical practices to focus on securing bottom-line success. We find high-BLM supervisors serve as low-quality exchange partners with their employees, resulting in employee perceptions of low-quality leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships. In turn, employees reciprocate by withholding the very thing the supervisor desires—performance—in order to maintain balance in the exchange relationship. As such, supervisors who possess a BLM could actually be negatively impacting the organization’s bottom line through the harmful social exchange relationships they engender with their employees and their impact on employee task performance. We also examine the moderating role of employee BLM on these relationships. When employee BLM is low, we observe a greater negative effect on employee value judgments of the supervisor (i.e. reduced LMX perceptions) and lower employee performance. We test and find support for all of our hypotheses in two multi-source (i.e. employee-supervisor dyads), time-lagged field studies ( N = 189 and N = 244).

How the exchange relationship affects employee commitment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of social and economic exchange relationships on organizational commitment in line with the mediation effect of organizational trust.Design/methodology/approachIn order to test the hypotheses of the study, a survey was conducted on a sample of 213 employees who were working at manufacturing companies in Turkey.FindingsThe findings of the study reveal that both dimensions of the exchange relationship positively affect organizational commitment and these links are mediated by organizational trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides reliable scales to measure the social and economic exchange relationship between employees and employing organizations. Although the sample of the study was relatively small and drawn from a single country, the Cronbach’sαvalues of scales were obtained above the recommended threshold value.Practical implicationsOrganizational leaders might adopt an exchange perspective to build a trustworthy relationship with their employees. Developing such a mindset is very important at an employment structure, which has become highly flexible and contingent during the last decades.Originality/valueThe study attempts to distinguish the twofold nature of the exchange relationship in organizations based on a theoretical model to reveal the impact of each dimension on organizational level outcomes in conjunction with the mediating role of trust. In doing so, the study contributes to the literature by incorporating social and economic exchange in a holistic view as well as defining each dimension in a broader sense by including some employee-related challenges of business organizations such as diversity, social responsibility, leadership, ethical culture and so on.

Insubordination: Validation of a Measure and an Examination of Insubordinate Responses to Unethical Supervisory Treatment

Research that examines unethical interpersonal treatment has received a great deal of attention from scholars and practitioners in recent years due to the remarkable impact of mistreatment in the workplace. However, the literature is incomplete because we have an inadequate understanding of insubordination, which we define as “subordinates’ disobedient behaviors that intentionally exhibit a defiant refusal of their supervisors’ authority.” In our study, we integrate social exchange theory and the advantageous comparison component of moral disengagement within the integrative model of experiencing and responding to mistreatment at work. Then, we explain why subordinates disengage from moral control as they balance experiencing abusive supervision with perpetrating insubordination within negative supervisor–subordinate social exchange relationships. In Studies 1–4, we validate a five-item measure of insubordination and demonstrate its content, convergent, discriminant, criterion-related, and predictive validity. In Study 5 (n = 287), we demonstrate that there is a positive indirect effect of abusive supervision on insubordination through negative social exchange relationship quality that strengthens for subordinates who perceive higher levels of supervisors’ task performance than others. Overall, our study advances the conversation in the business ethics literature by creating a solid conceptual, empirical, and theoretical foundation for a cohesive program of insubordination research that meaningfully builds on prior findings in unethical interpersonal treatment research.

Strategizing in small informal retailers in India: Home delivery as a strategic practice

Small informally organized family-owned grocery retailers—kiranas—are ubiquitous in India and have retained market dominance while facing increasing competition from large formally organized retailers (FORs). Yet, strategy literature has under-explored such informal businesses. We explore kiranas’ distinct strategic practices that give them competitive advantage over FORs, generating kiranas’ sustained market dominance. To explore kiranas’ informal strategizing, grounded theoretic analysis of our multi-year case study suggested the employment of strategy as practice (SAP) framework, enriched with the social exchange theory (SET) concepts of trust and reciprocity. We find that the kiranas’ sustained enactment of strategic practice such as free-of-charge home-delivery significantly depends on contextually rich, reciprocity-based social exchange relationships with customers which evolve through praxes involving continuous exchange of trust. The practice enactment and exchange relationships constitute strategy-practitioner’s emerging dual-identity, which in turn reinforces the practices, generating a self-reinforcing cycle of practice enhancement. Within this cyclic relationship, an inimitable enactment of a strategic practice can be a key source of competitive advantage for informally organized small retail retailers over large FORs. By linking two unconnected prominent approaches to understanding patterns of workplace interactions, namely SAP and SET, the study opens theoretical avenues for exploring strategizing of informal businesses.

Psychological Contract Fulfillment on Employees Reactions within the Context of Organizational Justice

Aim - The objective of the study was to examine the psychological contract expectations by employees and the impact of any deviation from its perceived benefits by the employees of an organization, as they occur within social exchange relationships to account for employee responses. 
 Methodology - This is an exploratory longitudinal study in which an investigation is made into the changes in employment obligations as perceived by employees based on the level of fulfillment of contract obligations by their employer(s). 
 Findings - It was deduced that an employer's inability to fulfill its contractual commitments was the foundational cause associated with the decline in cooperation of the employees to fulfill their employment obligations. 
 Significance - The results of the current study show that there is a significant and positive relationship between Psychological Contract Fulfilment and Employee Reaction. Results presented that there is a significant and positive relationship between Organizational Justice and Employee Reaction. Results presented that there is a significant and positive relationship between Organizational Justice and Psychological Contract Fulfilment.

Firm–government relationships: A social exchange view of corporate tax compliance

Research SummaryThe economic exchange view of corporate tax compliance holds that when governments fail to provide adequate public services, firms comply less with taxes as quid pro quo. However, firms differ widely in the degree to which they respond to government inefficiencies in the form of tax noncompliance. We argue that such heterogeneity is largely because firm–government economic exchanges do not happen in a vacuum, but rather within the context of social exchange. Factors such as bribery, tax compliance burden, and consistency of tax enforcement affect firms' perceptions of fairness and trust in the social contract and moderate the quid pro quo in the economic exchange. We find broad support for our hypotheses in a sample from transition economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.Managerial SummaryFirms' propensity to pay their fair share of taxes is a function of the level of service provided by the government. Such an eye‐for‐an‐eye mentality would manifest more strongly when firms face higher levels of corruption or when they must shoulder a heavier tax burden; however, this mentality would be less apparent when tax enforcement is consistent and efficient. The degree of firms' effort to balance the economic relationship with the government is therefore influenced by how well they believe the social contract is upheld by their government within a broader social exchange relationship. While the prevalence of bribery and heavy compliance burden damages firms' perception of fairness and trust toward the government, consistent tax enforcement improves it.

Social Exchange and the Effects of Employee Stock Options

The authors assert that broad-based stock options create a social exchange relationship between the employer and employees, leading to higher individual job performance in the next period. They compare this social exchange hypothesis to the more typical incentive-based explanation for stock options, which is that holding options generates financial incentives for better individual job performance in the current period. Findings show that significant and meaningful relationships are associated with social exchange effects and that these are both independent of incentive effects and arguably greater than those for the incentive effects. The authors use non-parametric and parametric fixed effects models, other controls for sample heterogeneity, and alternative specifications to address possible concerns about identification and endogeneity. These results extend empirical studies of social exchange relationships to common workplace practices. They also raise the possibility that some of the performance effects attributed to incentives in other studies may actually be attributable to social exchange effects.

Explaining the procedural justice–perceived legitimacy relationship: Relying on relational concern or instrumental concern?

AbstractPeople can extract relational information (i.e., relational concern) as well as instrumental information (i.e., instrumental concern) from decision‐making procedures. Thus, both instrumental and relational concerns are assumed to influence the procedural justice–perceived legitimacy relationship. Drawing from social exchange theory, the different kinds of concerns may lead to form different exchange relationships (social exchange relationship vs. economic relationship), which can be indicated by two forms of trust (affect‐based trust vs. cognition‐based trust). We built a model of trust mediation in which procedural justice predicted affect‐based and cognition‐based trust. Further, we also tested the hypothesis that high (compared with low) group identification individuals are more likely to rely on relational concern to construct procedural justice and judge legitimacy of authority, because they use procedural fairness information to infer the quality of their relationships with the authority. The results of an experiment (Study 1) demonstrated that both affect‐based trust and cognition‐based trust mediated the procedural justice–perceived legitimacy relationship. Moreover, a field study (Study 2) showed that affect‐based trust mediated the relationship between procedural justice and perceived legitimacy primarily among individuals with high group identification whereas cognition‐based trust mediated this relationship primarily among those with low group identification.

Linking justice perceptions, workplace relationship quality and job performance: The differential roles of vertical and horizontal workplace relationships

Due to decentralization, flat organizational structures and prevalence of team work, employees interact more frequently and intensively within horizontal relationships with coworkers than within vertical relationships with supervisors. The present study contributes to a more complete understanding of antecedents and outcomes of local, interpersonal workplace relationships by simultaneously investigating employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships. Drawing on organizational justice theory and social exchange theory as well as data collected from 571 employees at two points in time, this study explores how justice perceptions affect social exchange relationships with supervisors and coworkers, and identifies mechanisms through which these, in turn, enhance employee job performance. Results suggest that informational and interpersonal justice differentially affect the quality of employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships, underlining the relevance of considering both supervisors and coworkers as sources of justice. Moreover, the findings indicate that employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships contribute to job performance, but through distinct paths. Job satisfaction mediates the link between both social exchange relationships and job performance, while quality of employee–coworker relationships further enhances job performance through employees’ motivation to engage in learning and knowledge sharing.

An Integrated Psycho-Sociological Perspective on Public Employees' Motivation and Performance.

In the context of profound social, economic and financial changes, private and public organizations managers turn their attention towards the most valuable resource they have – the human resource (HR), the one that can ensure increased organizational performance. Using adequate HR policies and practices, organizations can build a positive work environment that sustains employees’ development, encourages communication, innovation, and pro-active attitudes and behaviors. However, managerial practices specific to the private sector do not seem to be the solution to the problems public institutions deal with. While specialists have mainly explored the link between human resources management (HRM) and performance in the private sector, due consideration ought to be paid to the particularities of this relationship in the public sector as well, and to the factors that influence public employees’ motivation and determine their level of performance. The purpose of our paper is to show that HRM in public institutions should be approached in a manner that focuses more on the work motivation theory, specifically on the psycho-sociological profile of the public employee, and argue that higher performance can be achieved by establishing a social exchange relationship between managers and the members of their teams. A supportive work environment positively impacts upon public employees’ performance, self-efficacy and job satisfaction, even though they are mainly driven in performing their tasks by intrinsic motivators and devotion to public values and interest.

Human resource change‐agent role, state ownership, and employee behavioural flexibility

Although evidence about the relationship between HRM systems and employee behavioural flexibility has been accumulating, HR function's role in this relationship has been neglected. Using data collected in 168 firms in China, this study examines whether the HR change‐agent role influences employee behavioural flexibility. It is conceptualised that this role shapes the collective social exchange relationship between organisation and employees, which then offers employees change‐oriented social resources, such as shared experiences, values and norms. Employees reciprocate with change‐supportive behaviours and abilities (employee behavioural flexibility). By integrating the hierarchy of needs principles into collective social exchange theory, the study examines the boundary conditions of the HR change‐agent role – employee behavioural flexibility relationship by testing the moderating role of state ownership. In China's state‐owned enterprises, employees’ lower‐order needs are likely to be satisfied by the broader institutional environment. Hence, they are more likely to have higher‐order behavioural aims.

Impact of CSR perceptions on workers' innovative behaviour: exploring the social exchange process and the role of perceived external prestige

The study aims to show how organisational corporate social responsibility (CSR) can influence workers' attitudes, especially in terms of innovative behaviour (IB). A second aim is to explore the social exchange process that may underlie this relationship, by examining the mediating role of organisational trust (OT), affective commitment (AC) and happiness (HAP), and the moderating role of perceived external prestige (PEP). The authors employ structural equation modelling based on survey data obtained from 315 Portuguese individuals. The findings show that perceptions of CSR predict IB through a social exchange process which involves the mediating role of OT, AC and HAP and the moderating process of PEP. They suggest that managers should implement CSR practices because these can contribute towards fostering IB, but that they should also invest in communication and in the process of upgrading corporate image. This study enriches the existing knowledge about social exchange relationships in organisational contexts, and responds to the need to understand underlying mechanisms linking CSR with workers' organisational outcomes, by analysing CSR practices from a holistic stakeholder perspective.

Formal voice mechanisms and portfolio career workers’ prosocial voice in Japan and Korea: the mediating role of managers’ issue-related leadership activities

ABSTRACTThis study analyses the relationship between formal voice mechanisms and prosocial voice among portfolio career workers (PCWs) in Japan and Korea. We particularly focus on the leadership activities of managers as human resource management agents and issue sellers. Under similar conditions, data on 400 and 409 PCWs in Japan and Korea, respectively, are gathered through web-based longitudinal surveys conducted in 2017 and 2018. The findings are threefold. First, when PCWs perceive that formal voice mechanisms are activated, they also rate the levels of their managers’ issue-related leadership activities more highly. Second, when PCWs evaluate the issue-related leadership activities of managers as being at a high level, they perceive that employment relations are based on a social exchange relationship. Third, when PCWs perceive employment relations based on a social exchange relationship, they provide their prosocial voice more actively. These results are discussed relative to the internal labour market models of Japan and Korea.

Too many sheep in the flock? Span of control attenuates the influence of ethical leadership.

There has been growing interest in ethical leadership from both scholars and practitioners because of the positive effects that ethical leaders can have on their subordinates. These benefits come not only from ethical leaders acting as moral exemplars, but also from the tendency for ethical leaders to forge high-quality social exchange relationships with subordinates that help to establish expectations for appropriate conduct and ensure accountability through reciprocal obligation. However, the act of developing and maintaining strong social exchange relationships is resource intensive and requires considerable personal investment from ethical leaders. Extending current theory, we propose that wider spans of control attenuate the positive relationship between ethical leadership and leader-member exchange (LMX). Across two organizational samples, we developed and tested a moderated mediation model in which the effects of ethical leadership on performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and reduced production deviance via LMX were weakened by a widened span of control. Results in both studies supported the hypothesized model. Although it may be tempting to increase the number of subordinates assigned to ethical leaders in an effort to maximize their positive impact, the current findings suggest that the benefits of ethical leadership are diminished as span of control widens. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).