POS: new research
POS and Psychological Contract
Result: In a 2005 study examining the relationship between POS and psychological contract, Jacqueline and et al. found that there is little overlap across measures of POS and the psychological contract. Also, the study suggests that POS is an antecedent and outcome of the components of psychological contract fulfillment. For example, based on this finding, when employees view inducements provided by employers as an indication that their employer values their contributions and cares about their well-being, they will be prompted to cognitively reduce their employers’ obligations to them.
For example, when my uncle first started his factory in the late 90s, he could always have steady orders from his oversea clients, leading to irregular timetable for his workers. Sometimes they would have to work overnight across a whole week to meet the deadline while occasionally they almost had nothing to do and idled all day. Naturally, this working pattern didn’t not fit with psychological contract these worker had with their employer, as them were told normally they would work 8 hours a day and six days a week. Seeing an increase in employees’ complaints and with no extra money to compensate them, he tried a solution by going to the manufacture line every day to touch base with his employees, chatting with them about their daily life, helping those who were going through some difficulty and most crucially, he painted a vivid picture of how prosperous the factory would be next year for his employees and how they would all get a pay raise for their hard work then. Clearly, he unconsciously utilized this relationship between POS and psychological contract to reduce the employees’ perception of employers failed obligation by improving their POS.
Sample: They surveyed employees of a local government located in the south east of England on four occasions (2.5, 3 and 5 years subsequent to the first survey). At time 1, of 121000 surveys distributed, 6900 were returned. At time 2, of 20000 distributed, about 6000 completed surveys were returned. At time 3, a sub random sample of 1400 employees selected from time 2 respondents were surveyed, of which 660 were returned. At time 4, 393 surveys were returned by 462 respondents who have taken surveys at time 1, 2 and 3. The sample was reduced to 347 when part-time employees and surveys with missing data were eliminated. The final sample was 31% male, with a mean of age of 43.5 years, a mean job tenure of 6.3 years and a mean organizational tenure of 11.1 years. 61% of respondents were trade union members. The sample consists of teachers (29%), social workers (7%), engineers (5%), other professions (16%), administrators (10%), supervisors and managers (25%) and other (8%).
Method: The first and second survey captured perceived employer obligations and inducements and POS. The third survey measured the two dimensions of OCB: civic virtue and loyalty. The first and fourth survey captured psychological contract fulfillment.
Re-examination of How POS Influences Commitment and Performance
Result: In a 2009 meta-analysis study carried out by Riggle and et al., they found that different type of job may moderate support influences. Specifically, the effects of POS were significantly less obvious for frontline employees across all outcome variables except contextual performance.
Sample: They reviewed 167 studies rendering 294 correlations. The average study sample size across all outcome variables is 383.1. Frontline employees and non-frontline employees account for 28.4% and 30.4% of the sample, respectively. The remainder of the sample (41.1%) is comprised of studies for which job type was not reported, or for which the job type distinction could not be made.
Method: To be eligible for inclusion, a study must have reported a Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) between POS and at least one of the five outcome variables being investigated: organizational commitment, job satisfaction, task performance, contextual performance, or intention to leave. Then, they coded each study on five variables: sample size, job type (frontline, non-front line, or mixed), reliability of both the POS scale and the outcome variable scale, and the effect size (correlation).
Effects of POS and Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) on Employee Turnover
Result: In a 2007 study carried out by Maertz et al., they found that low PSS strengthened the negative relationship between POS and turnover, while high PSS weakened it. It shows that with a high PSS, employees will be less likely to leave the organization due to low POS. The negative impact on employee turnover caused by low POS can be mitigated by a high PSS.
For example: My aunt used to work in a local five-star hotel as a waitress. The time she got her job there the hotel was going through some difficulties and really couldn't offer enough benefits to its employees, especially those at the bottom, as it had just opened up, but she stayed because her supervisor was a super nice person. However, when in the end the hotel was on the right track, her supervisor had a row with some senior manager of the hotel and thus left. Consequently, my aunt and her coworkers also chose to leave as a protest to the hotel in support of their former supervisor. This example illustrates how high PSS helps mitigate the negative effects of low POS and also shows, in OST, how POS would plummet and even lead to turnover when the favorable treatment from supervisor is not contributed to organization but to idiosyncratic behaviors of a supervisor who turns against the organization.
Sample: Participants were 375 social workers from four Counties of a state department of family and children’s services located in the southeastern United States. Complete surveys with accompanying turnover behavior data were received from 225 employees for a final response rate of 60 per cent. The average age of respondents was 40.3 years (SD ¼ 10.6) and 82 per cent were female. Of our respondents, 64 per cent were White, 32 per cent were African American, 2 per cent were Hispanic, and 2 per cent were from other backgrounds.
Method: They measured all the relevant constructs (affective commitment, normative commitment and et al.) with a scale comprised of items taken from relevant existing scales, before running the CFA measurement model with all exogenous causal variables and all kinds of model testing.
Result: In a 2005 study examining the relationship between POS and psychological contract, Jacqueline and et al. found that there is little overlap across measures of POS and the psychological contract. Also, the study suggests that POS is an antecedent and outcome of the components of psychological contract fulfillment. For example, based on this finding, when employees view inducements provided by employers as an indication that their employer values their contributions and cares about their well-being, they will be prompted to cognitively reduce their employers’ obligations to them.
For example, when my uncle first started his factory in the late 90s, he could always have steady orders from his oversea clients, leading to irregular timetable for his workers. Sometimes they would have to work overnight across a whole week to meet the deadline while occasionally they almost had nothing to do and idled all day. Naturally, this working pattern didn’t not fit with psychological contract these worker had with their employer, as them were told normally they would work 8 hours a day and six days a week. Seeing an increase in employees’ complaints and with no extra money to compensate them, he tried a solution by going to the manufacture line every day to touch base with his employees, chatting with them about their daily life, helping those who were going through some difficulty and most crucially, he painted a vivid picture of how prosperous the factory would be next year for his employees and how they would all get a pay raise for their hard work then. Clearly, he unconsciously utilized this relationship between POS and psychological contract to reduce the employees’ perception of employers failed obligation by improving their POS.
Sample: They surveyed employees of a local government located in the south east of England on four occasions (2.5, 3 and 5 years subsequent to the first survey). At time 1, of 121000 surveys distributed, 6900 were returned. At time 2, of 20000 distributed, about 6000 completed surveys were returned. At time 3, a sub random sample of 1400 employees selected from time 2 respondents were surveyed, of which 660 were returned. At time 4, 393 surveys were returned by 462 respondents who have taken surveys at time 1, 2 and 3. The sample was reduced to 347 when part-time employees and surveys with missing data were eliminated. The final sample was 31% male, with a mean of age of 43.5 years, a mean job tenure of 6.3 years and a mean organizational tenure of 11.1 years. 61% of respondents were trade union members. The sample consists of teachers (29%), social workers (7%), engineers (5%), other professions (16%), administrators (10%), supervisors and managers (25%) and other (8%).
Method: The first and second survey captured perceived employer obligations and inducements and POS. The third survey measured the two dimensions of OCB: civic virtue and loyalty. The first and fourth survey captured psychological contract fulfillment.
Re-examination of How POS Influences Commitment and Performance
Result: In a 2009 meta-analysis study carried out by Riggle and et al., they found that different type of job may moderate support influences. Specifically, the effects of POS were significantly less obvious for frontline employees across all outcome variables except contextual performance.
Sample: They reviewed 167 studies rendering 294 correlations. The average study sample size across all outcome variables is 383.1. Frontline employees and non-frontline employees account for 28.4% and 30.4% of the sample, respectively. The remainder of the sample (41.1%) is comprised of studies for which job type was not reported, or for which the job type distinction could not be made.
Method: To be eligible for inclusion, a study must have reported a Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) between POS and at least one of the five outcome variables being investigated: organizational commitment, job satisfaction, task performance, contextual performance, or intention to leave. Then, they coded each study on five variables: sample size, job type (frontline, non-front line, or mixed), reliability of both the POS scale and the outcome variable scale, and the effect size (correlation).
Effects of POS and Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) on Employee Turnover
Result: In a 2007 study carried out by Maertz et al., they found that low PSS strengthened the negative relationship between POS and turnover, while high PSS weakened it. It shows that with a high PSS, employees will be less likely to leave the organization due to low POS. The negative impact on employee turnover caused by low POS can be mitigated by a high PSS.
For example: My aunt used to work in a local five-star hotel as a waitress. The time she got her job there the hotel was going through some difficulties and really couldn't offer enough benefits to its employees, especially those at the bottom, as it had just opened up, but she stayed because her supervisor was a super nice person. However, when in the end the hotel was on the right track, her supervisor had a row with some senior manager of the hotel and thus left. Consequently, my aunt and her coworkers also chose to leave as a protest to the hotel in support of their former supervisor. This example illustrates how high PSS helps mitigate the negative effects of low POS and also shows, in OST, how POS would plummet and even lead to turnover when the favorable treatment from supervisor is not contributed to organization but to idiosyncratic behaviors of a supervisor who turns against the organization.
Sample: Participants were 375 social workers from four Counties of a state department of family and children’s services located in the southeastern United States. Complete surveys with accompanying turnover behavior data were received from 225 employees for a final response rate of 60 per cent. The average age of respondents was 40.3 years (SD ¼ 10.6) and 82 per cent were female. Of our respondents, 64 per cent were White, 32 per cent were African American, 2 per cent were Hispanic, and 2 per cent were from other backgrounds.
Method: They measured all the relevant constructs (affective commitment, normative commitment and et al.) with a scale comprised of items taken from relevant existing scales, before running the CFA measurement model with all exogenous causal variables and all kinds of model testing.