Perceived Organizational Support 1 Running Head : PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT When Perceived Organizational Support Matters Most : Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms among Knowledge Workers

In a test of the reciprocity assumption underlying perceived organization support (POS) theory, this field study examined a nominological net focusing mainly on the mediating role of felt obligation in linking POS and several important outcome variables involving knowledge workers. It also assessed the impact of three moderators of POS linkages. Data were obtained from 193 information technology professionals and their supervisors. Results supported felt obligation as an important mediating mechanism for POS. For the moderators, findings demonstrated that the joint impact of POS, professional commitment, and motivating job characteristics on felt obligation was strongest when POS and the moderating elements were all high. In contrast, the detrimental impact of low POS on intention to leave was strongest when the professional commitment and coworker colleagueship moderators were also low. Overall, this study helps establish boundary conditions for perceived organization support theory. Perceived Organizational Support 3 When Perceived Organizational Support Matters Most: Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms among Knowledge Workers According to organizational support theory (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa, 1986; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002; Shore & Shore, 1995), employees develop higher levels of perceived organizational support (POS) when the organization cares about their wellbeing and values their contributions. Based on the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960), POS is theorized to indirectly impact employee attitudes and behaviors by creating a sense of obligation within individuals that results in reciprocation (Eisenberger et al., 1986). To date, organizational support theory has received considerable support and appears to be a useful theoretical framework for helping to understand employment relationships in organizations. Yet the mechanisms by which POS exerts influence on important outcomes and the moderating influences that constitute boundary conditions of the theory continue to be in need of further investigation. Organizational support theory (Eisenberger et al., 1986) relies on the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960) to posit that POS operates by creating a sense of obligation within individuals that results in reciprocation. Despite this contention, most POS studies to date have examined only the direct effects of POS without investigating the mediating processes through which POS influences employee behaviors and attitudes. One notable exception is a recent study by Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch, & Rhoades (2001) in which they found that an important mediator of certain POS-outcome relationships was employee felt obligation to care about the organization’s well-being and help the organization obtain its goals. Although a useful finding, this was a single study and involved workers in relatively routine jobs; hence there is a need to demonstrate that these relationships hold with other types of workers in order to better Perceived Organizational Support 4 establish the nominological net within which POS operates. Thus, one purpose of the present study is to examine the mediating role of felt obligation among members of a growing employee sector, namely knowledge workers (Drucker, 1999). At the same time, a significant area that remains to be explicitly explored is the potential moderating impact of commitment to one’s profession on important organizational outcomes emanating from perceived organizational support (see Lee, Carswell, and Allen, 2000). There are theoretical and empirical reasons to anticipate that the level of professional commitment-namely one’s affective attachment to one’s profession (Lee, et al., 2000)--may be an influence. For one thing, drawing on intrinsic motivation theory, individuals who are committed to their profession may be more intrinsically motivated (Raelin, 1986) and, therefore, be less dependent on organizational support to remain productive and attached to the organization. For another, individuals with high professional commitment may be prone to derive support from working with professionally similar colleagues, a factor that may lessen the impact of POS (Blau, 2000; Morrow & Wirth, 1989). Despite these possibilities, we could not locate any existing research that has directly explored how individual differences in professional commitment interact with employee perceptions of organizational support to influence employee attitudes and ultimately behaviors in the employing organization. Therefore, a second major purpose of this study is to examine the potential moderating role of professional commitment on the relationship between POS and outcome variables of importance. Finally, because our arguments regarding the moderating role of professional commitment raise issues about other related variables that might similarly have moderating impacts in a professional context, even in the absence of professional commitment, we explore Perceived Organizational Support 5 two additional potential moderators: motivating job characteristics and coworker colleagueship. Studying these two additional variables aids our understanding of boundary conditions regarding the impact of POS in a context in which professional commitment is likely to be relevant. In summary, the major purposes of this research are to further investigate the role of felt obligation as a mediator of POS relationships, to examine the extent to which professional commitment moderates linkages between POS and important outcomes, and to explore two additional moderators that may also constitute boundary conditions for POS, at least in an employment context involving knowledge work. Theoretical Background and Hypotheses Development We begin by first considering the extent to which felt obligation can be expected to mediate the relationship between POS and several outcomes. We then examine the underlying rationales for the potential moderating impacts of professional commitment, motivating job characteristics, and coworker colleagueship. Outcomes of POS and Mediating Role of Felt Obligation Reciprocity is a basic principle of social exchange. Based on the reciprocity norm (Gouldner, 1960), organizational support theory posits that POS will produce a sense of obligation in employees that will lead them to care about the organization and help the organization reach its objectives (Eisenberger et al., 1986; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002; Eisenberger et al., 2001; Lynch, Eisenberger, & Armeli, 1999). The more employees perceive they are receiving support from the organization, the more they might be expected to feel a sense of obligation and be inclined to reciprocate in both attitudinal and behavioral ways. In order to directly test the underlying mechanisms through which POS is posited to influence important outcomes, Eisenberger et al. (2001) explored the role of felt obligation as a Perceived Organizational Support 6 mediator of the relationship between POS and several important outcomes. For example, in the arena of in-role performance, organizational support theory argues that it is employee feelings of obligation to reciprocate based on perceived organizational support that leads to better performance (Eisenberger et al., 1986). As expected, Eisenberger et al. (2001) found that the relationship between POS and in-role performance was mediated by felt obligation. Building on research documenting a link between POS and organizational citizen behavior (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990; Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996; Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997; Shore & Wayne, 1993), Eisenberger et al. (2001) found a similar mediating relationship for felt obligation between POS and extra-role behavior in the form of organizational citizenship behaviors. The issue of organizational citizenship behaviors provided a particularly important test of the felt obligation notion because, unlike in-role behaviors, organizational citizenship behaviors are by definition discretionary in nature (Organ, 1990). Whereas employees may find it difficult to withhold in-role behaviors, they can more easily do so with extra-role behaviors. In line with Eisenberger’s findings, we hypothesize: Hypothesis 1: Felt obligation mediates the relationship between POS and both (a) in-role performance and (b) OCBs. Although POS is likely to foster employee commitment to the organization (e.g., Bishop, Scott, & Burroughs, 2000; Eisenberger et al., 1990; Eisenberger et al., 2001; Settoon et al., 1996; Shore & Tetrick, 1991; Wayne et al., 1997), this effect, too, may function, at least in part, through a sense of felt obligation to reciprocate the organization’s commitment to them (Eisenberger et al., 1986; Eisenberger et al., 2001). Eisenberger et al. (2001) found that felt obligation only played a partial mediating role. In interpreting these findings, they contended that because organizational support helps fulfill employees’ needs for relatedness and affiliation Perceived Organizational Support 7 (Armeli, Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Lynch, 1998), POS may also increase employees’ social identification with the organization, which constitutes an important aspect of affective organizational commitment (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979). Thus, although there are reasons to expect that reciprocation via felt obligation may be an underlying mechanism, arguments can also be made for a direct effect of POS on organizational commitment. This suggests, as found by Eisenberger et al. (2001), that the mediating role of felt obligation may be only partial. A related reason why partial mediation for felt obligation might be expected is that organizational commitment is an affective reaction rather than a behavior. Thus reciprocation in terms of helping an organization reach its objectives may constitute a clearer mediating mechanism when actionable outcomes, such as in-role performance and OCBs, are involved. Hypothesis 2: Felt obligation partiall