Testing mediation effects of social and economic exchange in linking organizational training investment to employee outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhee Jung ◽  
Norihiko Takeuchi

Purpose Although social exchange theory has long been used to explain employees’ positive work attitudes in response to perceived investment in employee development (PIED), few studies have examined this theoretical mechanism by introducing a direct measure of social exchange between employees and their personified organization. Furthermore, most studies have focused solely on one type of exchange (i.e. social exchange) and have ignored another type of exchange characterized as economic exchange. The purpose of this paper is therefore to uncover the process by which PIED affects employees’ attitudes, including affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction, by examining the mediating roles of both social and economic exchanges. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypothesized mediating model, this study conducted a three-phase, time-lagged questionnaire survey and collected data from 545 full-time employees. The model was tested based on structural equation modeling with a bootstrap test of indirect effects. Findings In line with social exchange theory, the findings showed that social exchange perceptions positively mediated the relationships between PIED and affective commitment/job satisfaction, whereas economic exchange perceptions negatively mediated them. Additionally, social and economic exchange perceptions were found to partially mediate the relationship between PIED and affective commitment but fully mediate the relationship between PIED and job satisfaction. Practical implications These results suggest that employers would benefit from investing in employee development, provided workers see the training investment as the employer’s side of social exchange, which in turn leads to increased affective commitment and job satisfaction. When employers do not achieve the expected returns from the training investment, they should check not only hard data (e.g. training attendance rate, hours of training, etc.) but also soft data (e.g. employees’ perceptions of training investment, social exchange, etc.) by conducting employee surveys and communicating with line managers. Originality/value The main contribution of this study is that it provides important empirical support for social exchange theory in the context of organizational training investment and employees’ attitudinal outcomes, by directly testing the positive mediating role of social exchange and the negative role of economic exchange.

2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1041-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Li ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Taiwen Feng

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among suppliers’ trust and commitment, transaction-specific investment, switching cost, and customer involvement within the context of relational governance mechanism and the social exchange theory. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use survey data from 214 Chinese manufacturing firms and employ the structural equation model to verify the conceptual model. Findings – Relational governance benefits customer involvement. Transaction-specific investment mediates the relationship between trust and commitment of suppliers. Switching costs negatively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ trust and customer involvement, but positively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ commitment and customer involvement. Research limitations/implications – The authors focus on two key elements of relationship, namely, trust and commitment of suppliers, but neglect other relational factors, such as relational norms and interdependence. Originality/value – These findings broaden the understanding and present new directions for the implementation of customer involvement from the perspective of relational governance and social exchange theory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Heron ◽  
Robert Coseano ◽  
Valentina Bruk-Lee

The notion that justice perceptions greatly influence behaviors and attitudes at work has been supported in the organizational behavior literature. Given the significant increase of Hispanic employees in the U.S. workforce in the last two decades, more research is needed to understand how justice relates to important outcomes in this population. The present study uses social exchange theory to examine conflict as a mediator of the relationship between justice and overall job satisfaction, and three individual facets of job satisfaction in a sample of 154 working Hispanic young adults in a variety of jobs. Findings indicate that conflict mediates the relationship between each dimension of justice and overall job satisfaction, and between two out of three examined facets of job satisfaction. The results provide evidence for the importance of justice perceptions in determining the attitudes and behaviors of Hispanic employees in the workplace.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mafalda Espada ◽  
Maria José Chambel

AbstractThe development of either internal or external employability of temporary workers has been considered a mechanism of protection since it ensures that employment can be maintained. According to the social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, when temporary workers perceive that the training promoted by the organization furthers employability, they are inclined to feel obligated to reciprocate with positive attitudes toward the organization. With a sample of temporary agency workers from three distinct industry organizations (N = 279), the current study investigated the relationship between training that promotes both internal and external employability and affective commitment as well as the role of voluntariness as a moderator of these relationships. The hypotheses were tested by using regression analysis. The results indicated that the perception held by temporary workers that the training they received is a promoter of their internal employability is positively correlated with their affective commitment towards the organization. Furthermore, the data revealed that this relationship is weaker for the group of temporary workers with high voluntariness. On the other hand, there was not a significant relationship between the training that promotes external employability and the affective commitment of temporary workers. Likewise, voluntariness did not moderate this relationship.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manish Kumar ◽  
Hemang Jauhari ◽  
Ashish Rastogi ◽  
Sandeep Sivakumar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to integrate learnings from social exchange theory, organizational support theory and JD-R model to explore the relationship among support for development, work engagement (WE), job satisfaction (JS) and turnover intention (TI). It was hypothesized that the relationship between managerial support for development (MSD) and TI would be explained through organizational support for development (OSD), WE and overall job satisfaction (OJS). Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey on a sample of 5,088 service industry employees undergoing organizational change and working in the business-to-business context was employed. Reponses were analyzed using IBM® SPSS® AMOSTM 20. Findings The findings were along the hypothesized lines. The study found support for mediation by OSD, WE and OJS, respectively of MSD and TI relationship. Similarly, the mediation of MSD-OJS relationship by OSD and WE, respectively were also supported. Furthermore, OSD mediated the relationship between MSD and WE; while the relationship between OSD and TI was mediated by WE and OJS, respectively and additionally, the OSD-OJS relationship was mediated by WE. Lastly, the mediation of WE-TI relationship by OJS was also supported. Therefore, the sequence of MSD-OSD-WE-OJS-TI partial mediation model was supported. Research limitations/implications While the sample size (n=5,088) is large, the respondents belong to one business unit of an organization, constraining generalizability. Additionally, the study is limited by cross-sectional design. Finally, the study was restricted by the choices of perceptual measures of study variables and non-quantitative evaluation of discretion/job demand. Originality/value Using learnings from multiple theories, the present study examined the roles of two sources of support for development (organizational and managerial) and two job-related states (WE and JS) in relating with TI. Interestingly, all the expected relationships were true in a context signifying the discretionary nature of organization. Further, testing of alternate models gives additional credence to the findings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 617-630
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Xu ◽  
Ho Kwong Kwan ◽  
Miaomiao Li

PurposeDrawing on social exchange theory and a cultural perspective, this study examines the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement by focusing on the mediating role of felt obligation and the moderating role of collectivism.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted over four months in a private service business in China. The participants comprised 108 Chinese employees.FindingsThe results indicate that workplace ostracism has a negative relationship with job engagement through a reduced sense of felt obligation. Collectivism strengthens the main effect of workplace ostracism on felt obligation and its indirect effect on job engagement via felt obligation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to understanding of the internal mechanism of the workplace ostracism–job engagement model by identifying the mediating role of felt obligation. It also emphasizes that collectivist cultures can enhance the effects of workplace ostracism. However, the generalizability of our findings may be limited due to this cultural factor.Practical implicationsOur findings show that workplace ostracism plays a significant role in reducing job engagement. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the incidence of ostracism in the workplace.Originality/valueBy addressing the previously unexplored mechanism that mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement, this study provides new directions for research on workplace ostracism and job engagement.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elif Cicekli ◽  
Hayat Kabasakal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationships between promotion, development, and recognition opportunities at work and organizational commitment, and whether these relationships are moderated by the job opportunities employees have in other organizations. Design/methodology/approach An opportunity model of organizational commitment is developed based on social exchange theory and several streams of opportunity research. Factor analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analyses are carried out to test the hypotheses using data from 550 white-collar employees. Findings The results of the analyses show that opportunities for development and recognition are predictors of organizational commitment, that job opportunities employees have in other organizations negatively moderate the relationship between recognition opportunity at work and organizational commitment, and that promotion opportunity does not predict organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications Future researchers could study the issue in the context of other cultures using data from multiple sources. Practical implications Employers who seek to increase their employees’ organizational commitment are advised to divert their energies from struggling to create promotion opportunities for their employees to creating opportunities for development and recognition. Originality/value The study explores the under-researched concept of opportunity at work and connects several streams of opportunity research by drawing on social exchange theory as a theoretical framework. The model is the first to address the effects of opportunity and alternative opportunities on organizational commitment.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Veld ◽  
Judith Semeijn ◽  
Tinka van Vuuren

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of employees’ willingness to invest in training and development and willingness for mobility on the relationship between human resource (HR) management practices and employability. As such, the study takes an interactionist perspective, building on human capital theory and social exchange theory. Investigating possible interaction effects is highly relevant as little is known yet on how organizational efforts (i.e. policies and activities) and individual effort of employees might strengthen each other in their aim of enhancing employability. Design/methodology/approach – Analyses were based on a sample of 1,346 respondents from 91 primary school locations in the Netherlands. Hypotheses were tested using regression analyses controlling for nesting of the data. Findings – The results indicate that HR activities and employees’ willingness are positively related to employability. Furthermore, only employees’ willingness for mobility strengthens this relationship, not their willingness for training and development. These results indicate that both organizations and employees are responsible for enhancing employability. Practical implications – Both HR activities and employee willingness appear to play a significant and interactive role for enhancing employability. Therefore, explicit cooperation between employee and organization in light of optimizing employability seems warranted. Originality/value – This study extends current research on enhancing employability, by theorizing and testing the combined efforts of organizations and employees from an interactionist perspective.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Syahrul Ulum ◽  
Alfa Warda ◽  
Zuris Dwi Elina ◽  
Ilmi Sephia Ardiana

This study aims to find out how the role of the preacher in bringing changes to the social conditions of the people who used to work in the Dadapan prostitution localization, Kediri City. Da'i plays an important role as a propagator of religion to protect the community. Thus, the relationship between the preacher and his community must be close regardless of the background or social conditions of the community. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study method and is equipped with George Homans' social exchange theory, namely as an analytical tool to understand and seek clarity of cases so that researchers know more clearly about the phenomenon of da'wah in the ex-Dadapan localization community. The results of this study conclude that the da'wah process that occurs in Dadapan Village in social exchange theory explains that they are willing to interact when the interaction produces benefits for themselves. Therefore, in the dynamics of increasing religious understanding in the ex-Dadapan localization, it is necessary to have a reward given so that people want to interact in discussing religious studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prabhjot Kaur ◽  
Keshav Malhotra ◽  
Sanjeev K. Sharma

Considering social exchange theory, the current research aimed to examine the mediating impact of job satisfaction in the relationship between internal branding and organisational citizenship behaviour. The data was collected from 187 employees in the private banking sector of Chandigarh, India. The results discussed that employer branding positively impacted job satisfaction and organisational citizenship behaviour. The results also suggested that internal branding impact organisational citizenship behaviour directly and indirectly.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Huang ◽  
Chunyong Tang ◽  
Ting Deng

Purpose This research aims to examine the influence of developmental human resources (HR) practices on management innovation. Drawing on social exchange theory, this paper analyzes the mediating role of responsibility for change and the moderating role of resource availability. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a scenario experiment using a sample of 329 part-time MBA students from various Chinese companies in Southwest China, using analysis of variance and regression to examine the hypotheses. Findings The results find a positive relationship between developmental HR practices and management innovation and responsibility for change mediates this relationship. Moreover, it examines the moderating role of resource availability. Resource availability positively moderates the correlation between responsibility for change and management innovation and moderates the mediation effect of responsibility for change on the correlation between developmental HR practices and management innovation. Practical implications Organizations should enhance the actual use of developmental HR practices to ensure the provision of appropriate training and development opportunities for all levels of employees in a fair and equal environment. It is better to take up an individual approach when offering these practices. Organizations should provide enough resources for employees, such as financial, spatial and temporal, and ensure the fair distribution of these resources. Organizations should cultivate the responsibility for change of middle-senior managers who can serve as role models for subordinates. Originality/value This study broadens the research on developmental HR practices, confirming that it has a positive impact on management innovation. It also provides more insight into the “black box” of developmental HR practices affecting management innovation, namely, the mediating effect of responsibility for change. This study shows that resources are critical to understanding how developmental HR practices can contribute to management innovation through responsibility for change. Using social exchange theory, the research deduces the conditional indirect effect of the model and uses a scenario experiment method to conclude causality.


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