Journal of Applied Psychology

2001, Vol. 86, No. 1,42-51

Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0021-9010/01/S5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0021-9010.86.1.42
Reciprocation of Perceived Organizational Support
Robert Eisenberger, Stephen Armeli, Barbara Rexwinkel, Patrick D. Lynch, and Linda Rhoades
University of Delaware
Four hundred thirteen postal employees were surveyed to investigate reciprocation's role in the rela-
tionships of perceived organizational support (POS) with employees' affective organizational commit-
ment and job performance. The authors found that (a) POS was positively related to employees' felt
obligation to care about the organization's welfare and to help the organization reach its objectives; (b)
felt obligation mediated the associations of POS with affective commitment, organizational spontaneity,
and in-role performance; and (c) the relationship between POS and felt obligation increased with
employees' acceptance of the reciprocity norm as applied to work organizations. Positive mood also
mediated the relationships of POS with affective commitment and organizational spontaneity. The pattern
of findings is consistent with organizational support theory's assumption that POS strengthens affective
commitment and performance by a reciprocation process.
When one person treats another well, the norm of reciprocity
obliges the return of favorable treatment (Gouldner, 1960). The
benefits exchanged may involve such impersonal resources as
money, services, and information or such socioemotional re-
sources as approval, respect, and liking (e.g., Altman & Taylor,
1973; Batson, 1993; Blau, 1964; Foa & Foa, 1974). An increase in
the help delivered to a recipient has been found to increase the aid
returned and the liking for the donor (e.g., Berkowitz & Friedman,
1967; DePaulo, Brittingham, & Kaiser, 1983; Eisenberger, Cot-
terell, & Marvel, 1987; Greenberg & Bar-Tal, 1976). Thus, the
obligation to repay benefits, based on the reciprocity norm, helps
strengthen interpersonal relationships.
The reciprocity norm may also apply to employee-employer
relationships, obliging employees to recompense advantageous
treatment they receive from their work organization (e.g., Mow-
day, Porter, & Steers, 1982; Rousseau, 1989,1990; Wayne, Shore,
& Liden, 1997). Meeting obligations helps employees maintain the
positive self-image of those who repay debts, avoid the social
stigma associated with the reciprocity norm's violation, and obtain
favorable treatment from the organization. Accordingly, workers
are motivated to compensate beneficial treatment by acting in
ways valued by the organization.
Organizational support theory (Eisenberger, Cummings,
Armeli, & Lynch, 1997; Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, &
Sowa, 1986; Shore & Shore, 1995) assumes employees form
general beliefs concerning how much the organization values their
contributions and cares about their well-being. Based on the rec-
iprocity norm, such perceived organizational support (POS) would
elicit employees' felt obligation to care about the organization's
Robert Eisenberger, Stephen Armeli, Barbara Rexwinkel, Patrick D.
Lynch, and Linda Rhoades, Department of Psychology, University of
Delaware.
Barbara Rexwinkel died in August 1995.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Robert
Eisenberger, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark,
Delaware 19716. Electronic mail may be sent to eisenber@udel.edu.
welfare and to help the organization reach its objectives. Employ-
ees could satisfy this indebtedness through greater affective com-
mitment to the organization and greater efforts to help the
organization.
Positive relationships that have repeatedly been found between
POS and affective commitment and performance have been as-
cribed to felt obligation owing to the reciprocity norm. However,
the supposed mediating role of felt obligation has not been as-
sessed. We, therefore, investigated felt obligation's contribution to
the relationships of POS with affective organizational commit-
ment, organizational spontaneity, in-role job performance, and
withdrawal behavior. We also examined positive mood as an
alternative mediator of POS-outcome relationships.
POS as an Antecedent to Felt Obligation
We assume that POS and felt obligation are causally related yet
conceptually distinct. POS is an experience-based attribution con-
cerning the benevolent or malevolent intent of the organization's
policies, norms, procedures, and actions as they affect employees.
Felt obligation is a prescriptive belief regarding whether one
should care about the organization's well-being and should help
the organization reach its goals. According to organizational sup-
port theory, POS meets socioemotional needs, provides assurance
that aid will be available when needed, and indicates the organi-
zation's readiness to recompense efforts made on its behalf (cf.
George, Reed, Ballard, Colin, & Fielding, 1993). Because of the
reciprocity norm, POS would lead to a felt obligation to care about
and aid the organization (see Figure 1).
Hypothesis J: POS will be positively related to employees' felt
obligation to care about the organization's welfare and to help the
organization reach its objectives.
Exchange Ideology as a Moderator of the POS-Felt
Obligation Relationship
Exchange ideology refers to employees' belief that it is appro-
priate and useful to base their concern with the organization's
42
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RECIPROCATION OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT 43
Figure 1. Theoretical model of the relationships among perceived organizational support (POS), exchange
ideology, felt obligation, positive mood, affective organizational commitment, organizational (Org.) spontaneity,
in-role performance (Perform.), and withdrawal behavior.
welfare and their work effort on how favorably they have been
treated by the organization. In interpersonal relationships, part-
ners' readiness to return favorable treatment is influenced by their
acceptance of the reciprocity norm. Employee exchange ideology
concerns employees' application of the reciprocity norm to their
relationship with the work organization. A strong employee ex-
change ideology would result from a personal history of direct
experience, observation, and persuasion by others concerning the
value of reciprocity in the employee-employer relationship. Be-
cause POS indicates a positive valuation of employees and concern
with their welfare, and most employees accept exchange ideology
to some degree, POS should increase felt obligation to the orga-
nization. Employees with a strong exchange ideology should show
an increased willingness to base affective commitment and work
effort on the favorableness of treatment received from the organi-
zation. These employees would show a more positive relationship
between POS and felt obligation than would employees with a
weak exchange ideology (see Figure 1).
Eisenberger et al. (1986) found that the association between
POS and job attendance was greater among teachers having a
strong exchange ideology, and Witt (1991) found a similar result
for the association between POS and manufacturing employees'
extra-role performance. However, exchange ideology's modera-
tion of the POS-felt obligation association was not assessed. We,
therefore, examined the moderating role of exchange ideology on
the POS-felt obligation relationship. On an exploratory basis, we
investigated whether high exchangers would show greater felt
obligation than low exchangers when POS was high and/or show
lesser felt obligation than low exchangers at low POS.
Hypothesis 2: The relationship between POS and felt obligation will
increase with the strength of employee exchange ideology.
Felt Obligation as a Mediator of
POS-Outcome Relationships
Meyer and Allen (1991, p. 67) viewed a positive emotional
attachment by employees to their work organization as a distinct
type of organizational commitment. Tsui, Pearce, Porter, and Tri-
poli (1997) suggested that actions by the organization indicating
caring and positive regard for employees act to enhance affective
commitment via the reciprocity norm. As shown in Figure 1,
organizational support theory supposes that POS contributes to
affective commitment and job performance by creating a felt
obligation to care about the organization and meet the organiza-
tion's objectives. Consequently, POS was found to be positively
related to affective commitment (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-
LaMastro, 1990; Guzzo, Noonan, & Elron, 1994; Hutchison, 1997;
Hutchison & Garstka, 1996; Jones, Flynn, & Kelloway, 1995;
Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996; Shore & Tetrick, 1991; Shore &
Wayne, 1993; Wayne et al., 1997). However, these studies did not
examine felt obligation's role in the POS-affective commitment
relationship.
On the basis of felt obligation, POS should also increase per-
formance of standard job activities and actions favorable to the
organization that go beyond assigned responsibilities. According
to George and Brief (1992), such extra-role activities (organiza-
tional spontaneity) include aiding fellow employees, taking actions
that protect the organization from risk, offering constructive sug-
gestions, and gaining knowledge and skills beneficial to the orga-
nization. Felt obligation would also lessen employee withdrawal
behaviors such as tardiness and absenteeism.
POS was found positively related to evaluative and objective
measures of performance in standard job activities (Armeli, Eisen-
berger, Fasolo, & Lynch, 1998; Eisenberger et al., 1986, 1990),
extra-role performance such as help for coworkers and creative
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44 EISENBERGER, ARMELI, REXWINKEL, LYNCH, AND RHOADES
suggestions for the organization's operations (Eisenberger et al.,
1990; Lynch, Eisenberger, & Armeli, 1999; Moorman, Blakely, &
Niehoff, 1998; Shore & Wayne, 1993; Wayne et al., 1997; Witt,
1991), and influence tactics designed by employees to make su-
pervisors aware of their dedication and accomplishments (Shore &
Wayne, 1993). POS was found negatively related to absenteeism
(Eisenberger et al., 1986, 1990) and turnover intentions (D. G.
Allen, Shore, & Griffith, 1999; Guzzo et al., 1994; Wayne et al.,
1997). However, felt obligation's presumed mediational role in the
relationship between POS and various kinds of performance was
not assessed.
Hypothesis 3: Employees' felt obligation to care about and aid the
organization will mediate the relationship of POS with affective
organizational commitment, organizational spontaneity, in-role per-
formance, and withdrawal behavior.
Positive Mood as an Alternative Mediator of POS-
Outcome Relationships
Positive mood as well as felt obligation may mediate the POS-
organizational spontaneity relationship. Watson, Clark, and Telle-
gen (1988) described positive mood as involving feelings of en-
thusiasm, excitement, and alertness. Positive mood has been found
to be related to various favorable experiences (George, 1991;
Watson et al., 1988). George and Brief (1992, p. 320) proposed
that events at work signifying an employee's competence, worth,
or achievement would enhance positive mood. POS may contrib-
ute to positive mood by conveying the organization's positive
valuation of an employee's work and care for the employee's
well-being.
Positive mood has been found to be positively related to helping
others and thinking creatively, both of which are included in
George and Briefs concept of organizational spontaneity. George
(1991) reported that positive mood was associated with heightened
organizational spontaneity, and George and Brief (1992) noted that
positive mood may prime employees to think about favorable
characteristics of coworkers, leading to helping behavior. George
and Brief also noted that positive mood appears to increase cre-
ative thinking, which would influence employee innovation. We,
therefore, distinguished positive mood and felt obligation as pos-
sible mediators of the POS-organizational spontaneity relation-
ship (see Figure 1).
Positive mood might also mediate the POS-affective commit-
ment relationship. Meyer and Allen (1991) suggested that work
experiences contributing to employee comfort and perceived com-
petence should enhance emotional attachment. POS might contrib-
ute to such experiences, fostering positive mood that, in turn,
would increase affective commitment. The associative theory of
attitude formation holds that persons or objects paired with posi-
tive affect become classically conditioned elicitors of positive
affect (Worchel, Cooper, & Goethals, 1988; Zimbardo & Leippe,
1991). Repeated experiences of positive mood in the organization,
resulting from POS, might associate the organization with positive
mood and thereby increase affective commitment. Hence, we
distinguished felt obligation and positive mood as possible medi-
ators of the relationships of POS with affective commitment and
organizational spontaneity.
Hypothesis 4: Positive mood will mediate the relationships of POS
with affective organizational commitment and organizational
spontaneity.
Method
Sample and Procedure
We administered a survey assessing POS, felt obligation, employee
exchange ideology, affective organizational commitment, and positive
mood to employees of a large mail-processing facility in the northeast
United States. Employees voluntarily completed the survey in conference
rooms during regularly scheduled working hours. To encourage candid-
ness, we gave employees verbal and written assurances that their individual
responses would be kept confidential. Similar assurances were provided by
local postal union officers and facility managers. Participants were asked to
provide social security numbers, which were needed to pair responses with
supervisory evaluations. The facility had 482 employees, 32 of whom were
not present for questionnaire administration because of vacation, illness, or
other reasons. Of the 450 employees given questionnaires, 413 (92%)
returned completed questionnaires with social security numbers. Seventy-
eight percent of these respondents were directly involved in the processing
and handling of mail, 12% were support staff such as clerical and secre-
tarial employees, and 10% were supervisors. Sixty percent of the respon-
dents were men. Employees' tenure averaged 10.8 years (SD = 7.16).
Supervisors rated their employees on in-role performance, organiza-
tional spontaneity, and withdrawal behaviors. These evaluations were
completed privately by each supervisor during regular work hours within 1
week after the employees' completion of the survey. The mean number of
employees rated per supervisor was 9.8 (SD = 6.0).
Measures
Except where noted, the respondents indicated the extent of their agree-
ment with each item on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree,
7 = strongly agree). The specific items for all the constructs are presented
in Table 1.
Tenure. Length of employment was obtained from organization
records.
POS. We selected six high-loading items from the Survey of Perceived
Organizational Support (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Prior studies have pro-
vided evidence for the reliability and validity of this scale (e.g., Eisen-
berger et al., 1990; Shore & Wayne, 1993).
Felt obligation. We used seven items designed for this study to mea-
sure employees' felt obligation to care about the organization and to help
it reach its goals.
Employee exchange ideology. We used the Employee Exchange Ide-
ology Questionnaire (Eisenberger et al., 1986) to measure employees'
beliefs concerning the appropriateness of helping the organization achieve
its goals in exchange for favorable treatment. We added three items that
included the employees' caring about the organization in return for the
organization's caring about the employee and the employee's going out of
his or her way to aid the organization in return for similar treatment by the
organization.
Affective organizational commitment. We used five items adapted
from Meyer and Allen's Affective Commitment Scale (N. J. Allen &
Meyer, 1990; Meyer, 1997; Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993), plus one very
similar item from the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mow-
day, Steers, & Porter, 1979), to measure affective organizational
commitment.
Positive mood. We asked the employees to rate how energetic and how
cheerful they felt on a typical day at work (1 = very little, 5 = very much).
Larsen and Diener (1992, p. 28) noted that Watson et al.'s (1988) construct
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RECIPROCATION OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT 45
Table 1
Confirmatory Factor-Item Loadings
Statement Loading
Perceived Organizational Support
1. The takes pride in my accomplishments. -80
2. The really cares about my well-being. -79
3. The values my contributions to its well-being. .71
4. The strongly considers my goals and values. .65
5. The shows little concern for me. (R) .61
6. The is willing to help me if I need a special favor. .59
Felt Obligation
7. I feel a personal obligation to do whatever I can to help the achieve its goals. .82
8. I owe it to the to give 100% of my energy to 's goals while I am at work. .81
have an obligation to the to ensure that I produce high-quality work. .76
owe it to the to do what I can to ensure that customers are well-served and satisfied. .75 10.
11.
12.
13.
would feel an obligation to take time from my personal schedule to help the if it needed my help. .63
would feel guilty if I did not meet the 's performance standards. .63
feel that the only obligation I have to the is to fulfill the minimum requirements of my job. (R) .61
Employee Exchange Ideology
14. Employees should not care about the organization that employs them unless that organization shows that it
cares about its employees. .75
15. Employees should only go out of their way to help their organization if it goes out of its way to help them. .69
16. An employee should work as hard as possible no matter what the organization thinks of his or her efforts. (R) .68
17. If an organization does not appreciate an employee's efforts, the employee should still work as hard as he or
she can (R). .67
18. An employee who is treated badly by a company should work less hard. .65
19. An employee's work effort should depend partly on how well the organization deals with his or her desires
and concerns. .56
20. An employee should only work hard if his or her efforts will lead to a pay increase, promotion, or other
benefits. .53
21. An employee's work effort should not depend on the fairness of his or her pay. (R) .50
Affective Organizational Commitment
22. Working at the has a great deal of personal meaning to me. .84
23. I feel a strong sense of belonging to the . .75
24. I am proud to tell others I work at the . .70
25. I feel emotionally attached to the . .67
26. I would be happy to work at the until I retire. .56
27. I enjoy discussing the with people who do not work here. .47
Positive Mood
28. Energetic .70
29. Cheerful .57
In-role Performance
30. Meets formal performance requirements of the job. .90
31. Fulfills responsibilities specified in job description. .89
32. Performs tasks that are expected of him or her. .71
33. Adequately completes assigned duties. .50
Organizational Spontaneity
34. Makes constructive suggestions to improve the overall functioning of his or her work group. .89
35. Continues to look for new ways to improve the effectiveness of his or her work. .88
36. Assists supervisor with his or her work. .82
37. Helps coworkers who have been absent. .79
Withdrawal Behavior
38. Exhibits punctuality in arriving at work station on time after breaks. (R) .86
39. Begins work on time. (R) .79
40. Attendance at work is above the norm. (R) .71
41. Gives advance notice when unable to come to work. (R) .68
Note. N = 413. All loadings are standardized. Performance measures were adapted from the following scales. Items 30-33, 36, 37, and 39 are from "Job
Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment as Predictors of Organizational Citizenship and In-Role Behaviors," by L. J. Williams and S. E. Anderson,
1991, Journal of Management, 17, p. 606. Copyright 1991 by Sage. Reprinted with permission. Items 34, 38, and 41 are from "The Role of Dispositional
and Situational Antecedents in Prosocial Organizational Behavior: An Examination of the Intended Beneficiaries of Prosocial Behavior," by B. L. McNeely
and B. M. Meglino, 1994, Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, p. 840. Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with
permission of the authors. Item 35 is from "Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Construct Redefinition, Measurement, and Validation," by L. Van Dyne,
J. W. Graham, and R. M. Dienesch, 1994, Academy of Management Journal, 37, p. 781. Copyright 1994 by the Academy of Management. Reprinted with
permission. Item 40 is from "Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Its Nature and Antecedents," by C. A. Smith, D. W. Organ, and J. P. Near, 1983, Journal
of Applied Psychology, 68, p. 657. Copyright 1983 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission of the author. (R) = item reverse
scored.
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46 EISENBERGER, ARMELI, REXWINKEL, LYNCH, AND RHOADES
of positive mood is primarily a state of high activation with pleasant
hedonic tone. Our two mood items were selected to encompass the acti-
vation and pleasantness components of positive mood. To assess the
convergent validity of the positive mood measure, we asked 615 employees
of a chain of discount electronics and appliance stores to rate their positive
mood on a typical day at school using these mood items with the six
positive mood terms used by Burke, Brief, George, Roberson, and Webster
(1989). A principal-components analysis on the combined item set pro-
duced a single factor, with loadings ranging from .88 to .82, and with
Energetic loading .86 and Cheerful loading .84.
Performance measures. Supervisors evaluated workers on a 5-point
scale (1 = extremely characteristic, 5 = extremely uncharacteristic) for
four in-role job behaviors, four organizationally spontaneous behaviors,
and four withdrawal behaviors (see Table 1).
Results
Discriminant Validity of the Constructs
We first examined the distinctiveness of POS, felt obligation,
exchange ideology, positive mood, affective organizational com-
mitment, organizational spontaneity, in-role performance, and
withdrawal behavior. We compared the fit of five nested models
ranging from a single-factor model to the hypothesized eight-
factor model (see Table 2). We used AMOS software (Arbuckle,
1997) with maximum-likelihood estimation. Based on chi-square
difference tests (James, Mulaik, & Brett, 1982), each more artic-
ulated model fit the data better. The eight-factor model was the
only model having nonsignificant root-mean-square error of ap-
proximation (RMSEA) values and having comparative fit index
(CFT) and Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) values above the recom-
mended cutoffs of .90. Table 1 shows standardized item loadings.
Items loaded significantly on their predicted factors at .47 or
above.
Factor Correlations
Relationships among the measures are given in Table 3. As
predicted, latent variable correlations indicated that POS was as-
sociated with felt obligation (Hypothesis 1) and positive mood at
work. POS and felt obligation were both related to affective
commitment and the three performance dimensions, and positive
mood at work was associated with affective commitment and
organizational spontaneity. This pattern of relationships satisfies
Kenny, Kashy, and Bolger's (1998) first three conditions for
mediation stating that the initial variable (i.e., POS) should be
related to the criterion variable, the initial variable should be
related to the mediators (i.e., felt obligation and positive mood),
and the mediators should be related to the outcome variables. To
fully demonstrate mediation, we need to show also that the asso-
ciations between POS and the outcome variables are reduced when
the mediators are included in the predictive model and that the
mediators predict performance (Kenny et al., 1998, p. 260).
Mediating Role of Felt Obligation
Major variables. We conducted structural equation modeling
to test the mediating roles of felt obligation and positive mood in
the relationships of POS with affective commitment and perfor-
mance. Individual scale items were used as separate indicators of
Table 2
Confirmatory Factor Analyses Model Fit Indices
CFI
.42
.62
.73
.85
.94
Model
TLI GFI AGFI Chi-square df
One-factor model
.39 .43 .37 5,829.19* 779
Three-factor model
.60 .58 .53 4,061.02* 777
Five-factor model
.71 .66 .62 3,134.27* 769
Six-factor model
.84 .77 .74 2,069.18* 764
Eight-factor model
.94 .87 .85 1,266.01* 751
Difference RMSEA
.13*
1,768.17* .10*
926.75* .09*
1,065.09* .07*
803.17* .04
Note. N = 413. One-factor model incorporates all eight constructs; three-
factor model combines POS and Exchange Ideology (Factor 1), Felt
Obligation and Mood (Factor 2), and Affective Organizational Commit-
ment and the three performance measures (Factor 3); five-factor model
includes POS, Exchange Ideology, Felt Obligation, and Mood as separate
factors, and a Global Outcome factor (Affective Organizational Commit-
ment combined with the three performance dimensions); six-factor model
comprises POS, Exchange Ideology, Felt Obligation, Mood, and Affective
Organizational Commitment as separate factors, and the three performance
dimensions as one factor; and the hypothesized eight-factor model includes
all constructs individually. Difference = the difference in chi-square from
the previous (more parsimonious) model. CFI = comparative fit index;
TLI = Tucker-Lewis index; GFI = goodness-of-fit index; AGFI = ad-
justed goodness-of-fit index; RMSEA = root-mean-square error of approx-
imation.
*p < .05.
the latent variables. To set the metric of the latent variables, we
used each scale's highest loading item based on the confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA) results; these indicators' loadings were set to
a value of one (Kline, 1998).
In line with Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) nested model
approach, we tested two competing models: a fully mediated
model and a partially mediated model. For the fully mediated
model, we specified paths from POS to felt obligation and positive
mood, from felt obligation to affective commitment and the three
behavioral measures, and from positive mood to affective com-
mitment and organizational spontaneity (see Figure 1). The par-
tially mediated model had additional direct paths from POS to
affective organizational commitment and the three performance
measures. Estimation of the direct associations between POS and
the dependent measures in the partially mediated model allowed us
to examine Kenny et al.'s (1998) fourth criterion for demonstrating
mediation, which is whether the relationship of POS with the
dependent measures is reduced when controlling for the mediators.
Control variables. Because we made no predictions concern-
ing the main effects of exchange ideology on the mediators or, the
outcome variables, we did not include it in the theoretical model.
However, we did control for the effects of exchange ideology by
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RECIPROCATION OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT 47
Table 3
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations
Factor M SD
1. Tenure
2. Perceived Organizational Support
3. Affective Commitment
4. Felt Obligation
5. Exchange Ideology
6. Positive Mood at Work
7. Organizational Spontaneity
8. In-role Performance
9. Withdrawal Behaviors
10.80
2.62
3.73
4.89
3.53
3.10
2.99
3.85
2.50
7.16
1.33
1.44
1.53
1.25
0.91
1.06
0.82
1.06
_
.15
.20
.17
-.10
.23
.04
.21
-.29
.15
(.77)
.70
.54
-.33
.50
.15
.16
-.24
.17
.58
(.83)
.72
-.48
.62
.11
.15
-.15
.16
.49
.60
(.88)
-.69
.53
.21
.21
-.23
-.09
-.27
-.40
-.59
(.84)
-.45
-.13
-.08
.16
.17
.36
.45
.38
-.32
(.60)
.24
.23
-.17
.04
.11
.10
.16
-.09
.15
(.91)
.70
-.63
.20
.12
.14
.18
-.07
.16
.65
(.93)
-.73
-.29
-.22
-.16
-.22
.14
-.11
-.54
-.62
(.85)
Note. N = 413. Scale score correlations are given above the diagonal (r of .10 or above, significant at .05 alpha level). Internal reliabilities (coefficient
alphas) are given in parentheses on the diagonal. Latent factor correlations are given below the diagonal (r of .12 or above, significant at .05 alpha).
including it as an exogenous variable predicting all the endogenous
variables (see Markel & Frone, 1998). Similarly, we wished to rule
out the possibility that relationships between POS and the medi-
ators and between the mediators and performance might be an
artifact of tenure. Thus, we included tenure as an exogenous
variable predicting the endogenous variables. Finally, because no
causal paths were hypothesized among affective commitment and
the three performance indices (organizational spontaneity, in-role
performance, and withdrawal behaviors), the covariances between
the disturbance terms of these latent variables were left free to
vary.
Comparison of models. The partially mediated model, X*(1S7,
N = 413) = 1,366.22, p < .05; RMSEA = .04, p = .99;
goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = .87; adjusted goodness-of-fit index
(AGFI) = .85; CFI = .93; TLI = .93, fit better than the fully
mediated model, according to the change in chi-square, ^(4, N =
413) = 28.77, p < .05. Examination of POS's direct relationships
with the outcome variables indicated significant paths from POS to
affective organizational commitment and withdrawal behaviors,
but not from POS to organizational spontaneity or in-role perfor-
mance. Thus, we fixed POS's direct associations with the latter
two outcomes to zero. Similarly, supplemental analyses freeing the
paths from mood to in-role performance and withdrawal behavior
showed no significant associations. The final model showed an
adequate fit to the data, ^(789, N = 413) = 1,366.67, p < .05;
RMSEA = .04, p = .99; GFI = .87; AGFI = .85; TLI = .93;
CFI = .93.
The final model can be seen in Figure 2. For presentation ease,
we do not present the model's measurement portion or residual
covariances, and we give covariate relationships separately (see
Table 4). Examination of the path coefficients revealed that POS
was uniquely related to the mediators in the positive direction and
had significant direct associations with affective commitment and
withdrawal behavior. Concerning the mediators, felt obligation
was positively related to affective commitment, organizational
spontaneity, and in-role performance; further, positive mood
Figure 2. Structural equation model of the relationships between postal employees' perceived organizational
support (POS) and their affective organizational commitment, organizational (Org.) spontaneity, in-role perfor-
mance (Perform.), and withdrawal behaviors as mediated by felt obligation and positive mood. * p < .05.
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48 EISENBERGER, ARMELI, REXWINKEL, LYNCH, AND RHOADES
Table 4
Model Covariates' Relationships With Endogenous Factors
Endogenous factor Tenure Exchange Ideology
Felt Obligation
Positive Mood
Affective Organizational Commitment
Organizational Spontaneity
In-role Performance
Withdrawal Behaviors
.06
.13*
.02
-.01
.18*
-.24*
-.57*
-.32*
.05
.05
.11
.01
Note. Values represent standardized path coefficients.
*p < .05.
uniquely predicted affective commitment and organizational spon-
taneity. The final model explained 36.6% and 59.2% of the vari-
ance in positive mood and felt obligation, respectively,
and 68.6%, 5.2%, 8.5%, and 12.5% of the variance in affective
commitment, organizational spontaneity, in-role performance, and
withdrawal behavior, respectively.
Next, we tested the significance of the specific indirect relation-
ships between POS and performance. We calculated indirect effect
path coefficients by multiplying the unstandardized path coeffi-
cients for POS's relationship with the mediators times the unstand-
ardized path coefficients for the mediators' relationship with the
performance variables (Kenny et al., 1998). We calculated a stan-
dard error for these coefficients using the formula provided by
Kenny et al. (1998, p. 260); the indirect effect path coefficient
divided by the standard error yields a test statistic approximately
distributed as Z. Consistent with Hypothesis 3, POS had significant
indirect associations via felt obligation with affective commitment
(B = .20, Z = 4.37, p < .05), organizational spontaneity (B = .07,
Z = 2.31, p < .05), and in-role performance (B = .08, Z = 3.05,
p < .05). Consistent with Hypothesis 4, POS had a significant
indirect association via positive mood with affective commitment
(B = .14, Z = 2.78, p < .05) and a marginally significant indirect
relationship with organizational spontaneity (B = .06, Z = 1.94,
p < .06).
Moderating Effects of Employee Exchange Ideology
To assess employee exchange ideology's moderation of the
POS-felt obligation relationship (Hypothesis 2), we used standard
hierarchical moderated regression analysis. Each scale's items
were averaged to create scale scores. We centered the predictor
variables (POS and felt obligation) before creating the product
term interaction. To assess the interaction, we entered the product
term (i.e., POS times exchange ideology) into the equation after
partialing out the main effects of POS and employee exchange
ideology on felt obligation. We also controlled for tenure. Tenure
and the main effects of POS and employee exchange ideology
accounted for 46.5% of the variance in felt obligation, and both
POS (/3 = .34, p < .01) and employee exchange ideology (/3 =
.49, p < .01) were significant unique predictors. The addition of
the POS X Employee Exchange Ideology interaction had the
predicted reliable effect (/3 = .12, p < .01). Consistent with
Hypothesis 2, Figure 3 shows that the relationship between POS
and felt obligation was greater for high-exchange ideology em-
ployees compared to those low in exchange ideology. We con-
ducted simple effects tests (Aiken & West, 1991) to examine the
data further. Reliable positive relationships were found between
POS and felt obligation at both 1 SD above, B = .55,
r(409) = 8.62, p < .05, and 1 SD below, B = .29, ?(409) = 6.00,
p < .05, the mean exchange ideology score. Additional simple
effects tests were carried out at low and high levels of POS (1
and 7, respectively). At low POS, low exchangers experienced
greater felt obligation than did high exchangers, B = -.64,
r(409) = -13.6, p < .01; at high POS, the difference in felt
obligation by low and high exchangers was not reliable, B = .02,
r(409) = -0.09, p = .93.
I
6
5 -
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Perceived Organizational Support
Figure 3. The relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and felt obligation as a function of
employee exchange ideology. The ;c-axis uses the empirical scale limits of POS (i.e., 1 and 7). High- and
low-exchange ideology are, respectively, 1 SD above and 1 SD below the mean.
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RECIPROCATION OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT 49
Discussion
Reciprocation's contribution to POS-outcome relationships is
indicated by the present study's findings that (a) POS was posi-
tively related to employees' felt obligation to care about the
organization's welfare and to help the organization reach its ob-
jectives; (b) felt obligation mediated the associations of POS with
affective commitment, organizational spontaneity, and in-role per-
formance; and (c) the relationship between POS and felt obligation
increased with employees' acceptance of the reciprocity norm as
applied to work organizations. The pattern of findings is consistent
with organizational support theory's view that POS strengthens
affective organizational commitment and performance via the rec-
iprocity norm (Eisenberger et al., 1986; Shore & Shore, 1995).
Positive mood, an alternative possible mediator of POS-outcome
associations, independently contributed to the relationships of
POS with affective commitment and organizational spontaneity.
These findings support social exchange interpretations of em-
ployee-employer relationships that emphasize reciprocity-based
obligations.
POS, Felt Obligation, and Positive Mood
POS was positively related to postal employees' felt obligation
to care about and aid their organization. The results add to previous
results concerning the relationship between employees' percep-
tions of favorable treatment and their felt obligation to aid the
organization. Meyer and Allen (1991) suggested that favorable
treatment by the organization increases employees' judged duty to
remain employed with the organization. Ko, Price, and Mueller
(1997) found that workers' perceptions of having been well treated
by their organization were positively related to the experienced
obligation to remain with the organization. Employees' percep-
tions of a psychological contract with their employer, involving
mutual obligations to look out for the welfare of the other, were
maintained by organizational actions that met employees' needs
and created employees' trust in the organization to fulfill its part of
the bargain (Robinson & Wolfe Morrison, 1995; Rousseau &
McLean Parks, 1993). These previous results suggested that re-
peated favorable treatment received from the organization in-
creases employees' felt obligation to continue their employment
(Meyer & Allen, 1991) and to help the organization achieve its
goals (Rousseau, 1995). The present results indicate that employ-
ees' perception of the organization's commitment to them (POS)
contributes to a general obligation, based on the reciprocity norm,
to care about their organization and to contribute to organizational
objectives.
POS, Exchange Ideology, and Felt Obligation
Our findings of a positive relationship between POS and felt
obligation among employees with a weak exchange ideology and
those with a strong exchange ideology agree with the view that
most employees accept the reciprocity norm to some degree
(Eisenberger et al., 1986). As predicted, the relationship between
POS and felt obligation was greater for employees with a strong
exchange ideology. This moderation of the POS-felt obligation
relationship by exchange ideology is consistent with organiza-
tional support theory's assumption that POS influences affective
commitment and performance via the process of reciprocation.
We found that when POS was low, postal workers with a strong
exchange ideology expressed much less obligation than workers
with a weak exchange ideology. That is, employees with a strong
exchange ideology expressed little obligation when they believed
their organization showed little commitment to them. In contrast,
when POS was high, employees with a strong exchange ideology
expressed approximately the same level of felt obligation as em-
ployees with a weak exchange ideology. This pattern of findings is
consistent with Eisenberger et al.'s (1986) results that at low POS,
high-exchange teachers were absent more often than low-exchange
teachers; whereas at high POS, high-exchange teachers did not
differ reliably from low exchangers. Evidently, employees with a
weak exchange ideology have other work values that bolster their
felt obligation to the organization.
Because exchange ideology might be related to other work
values that may produce felt obligation to the organization, per-
ceived support theory makes no assumption about whether em-
ployees with a strong exchange ideology will, on the average,
experience greater felt obligation or less felt obligation than other
employees. For example, the Protestant work ethic has been de-
fined as a commitment "to the values of hard work, to work itself
as an objective, and the work organization as an inevitable struc-
ture within which those internalized values can be satisfied"
(Kidron, 1978, p. 240). The work ethic was found to be positively
related to affective organizational commitment (Mathieu & Zajac,
1990). Employees having a strong work ethic may feel highly
obligated to be loyal to their work organization and to work hard
and may be less inclined than other employees to lower affective
commitment and work effort on the basis of unfavorable treatment
received from the organization.
Mediation of POS-Outcome Relationships
Our results indicate that POS is positively associated with felt
obligation to aid the organization and care about its well-being.
Felt obligation, in turn, is positively related to affective organiza-
tional commitment, organizational spontaneity, and in-role perfor-
mance. This result favors organizational support theory's emphasis
on felt obligation in POS-outcome relationships. Positive mood
also mediated POS's relationships with affective organizational
commitment and organizational spontaneity.
The POS-positive mood relationship is compatible with the
view that organizational experiences conveying competence,
worth, and achievement increase positive mood (George & Brief,
1992). Positive mood, resulting from POS, could become associ-
ated with the organization (cf. Staats & Staats, 1958; Worchel et
al., 1988; Zimbardo & Leippe, 1991) and lead to greater affective
commitment. Positive mood may also increase organizational
spontaneity by such means as enhancing attention to others' fa-
vorable characteristics and encouraging flexible, creative thinking
(George & Brief, 1992).
Beyond POS's relationships with the outcome variables via felt
obligation and positive mood, we found mat POS was directly
associated with affective commitment and withdrawal behavior.
The direct POS-affective commitment relationship might be due
to social identification with the organization. In addition to creat-
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50 EISENBERGER, ARMELI, REXWINKEL, LYNCH, AND RHOADES
ing felt obligation and enhancing positive mood, POS's fulfillment
of esteem and affiliation needs (Armeli et al., 1998) may increase
employees' incorporation of organizational membership and role
status into their social identity. Social identification has been
considered an important part of affective commitment (e.g., N. J.
Allen & Meyer, 1996; Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979) or a
distinct but closely related construct (Ashforth & Mael, 1989;
Mael & Tetrick, 1992). Thus, future research might examine the
role of social identification in the associations of POS with affec-
tive commitment and withdrawal behavior.
We did not find a reliable relationship between felt obligation
and withdrawal behavior. Perhaps employees concentrate their
efforts to fulfill felt obligation with the kinds of performance
favored explicitly or implicitly by the organization (Eisenberger et
al., 1986). Employees who feel a strong obligation to the organi-
zation might be especially attentive to communications from su-
pervisors and upper management concerning the organization's
objectives.
Limitations of the Study
Although we included only two moderately correlated items
assessing positive mood, the measure captured mood's fundamen-
tal features of positive hedonic tone and activation (Larsen &
Diener, 1992) and mediated POS's associations with affective
commitment and organizational spontaneity. Our spontaneity mea-
sure incorporated innovative suggestions and help to others, both
of which loaded on the same factor in the present sample. Findings
that felt obligation and positive mood were associated with spon-
taneity might be amplified by distinguishing different kinds of
spontaneity across more diverse samples. Another limitation con-
cerns cross-sectional studies' inability to offer conclusions con-
cerning the causal direction of the observed relationships. As an
alternative to the present interpretation, rewards for superior per-
formance might lead workers to feel greater obligation; based on
feeling obligated to the organization, workers may conclude that
the organization values their contributions and holds them in high
regard (POS). Nevertheless, the pattern of findings, including the
moderating role of exchange ideology, agrees with the view that
the reciprocity norm is responsible for the positive relationships of
POS with affective commitment and performance.
Conclusion
The present findings support social exchange interpretations that
stress reciprocation's role in employee-employer relationships.
Employees' responsiveness to the reciprocity norm provides a
basis for understanding how the favorableness and perceived in-
tentionality of treatment received from the organization influence
affective commitment and performance and why employees differ
in their reciprocation of favorable treatment. POS contributes to
employees' felt obligation to care about the organization's welfare
and to act in the organization's behalf, which, in turn, enhances
affective organizational commitment, organizational spontaneity,
and in-role performance.
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RECIPROCATION OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT 51
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Received March 8, 1999
Revision received January 14, 2000
Accepted February 2, 2000
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