J. Bryan Fuller

A Social Identity Perspective on the Relationship Between Perceived Organizational Support and Organizational Commitment

RESEARCHERS HAVE CONSISTENTLY FOUND perceived organizational support (POS) to be positively related to organizational commitment ( e g , Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996). POS is defined as people’s “global beliefs about the extent to which the organization cares about their well-being and values their contributions” (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa, 1986, p. 501). The relationship between POS and organizational commitment is based on social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960). That is, because commitment can be an exchange commodity, people are likely to become committed to an organization when they feel that the organization is committed to them. Because no research had explored other theoretical explanations for the relationship between POS and organizational commitment, the present study was designed to examine that relationship from a perspective of social identity theory. Social identity theory suggests that people “remain loyal when they feel that their organizations . . . value and appreciate them” (Tyler, 1999, p. 235). However, social identity theory maintains that when people feel that their organization values and appreciates them, it is a sign of organizational respect for them or of

Perceived Organizational Support and Perceived External Prestige: Predicting Organizational Attachment for University Faculty, Staff, and Administrators

The present article introduces a social-exchange model of organizational attachment incorporating both direct exchange and indirect exchange. Participants were 325 university employees. The present results indicated that perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived external prestige (PEP) both contribute to organizational attachment. Further, the results showed that the extent to which POS and PEP are related to organizational attachment is moderated by occupational proxies of cosmopolitan-local role orientation. POS was more strongly related to the affective commitment and withdrawal cognitions of staff and administrators than to those of faculty. PEP was more strongly related to affective commitment and withdrawal cognitions of university faculty than to those of university staff and administrators. The authors discussed the need to incorporate relational variables such as PEP into other social-exchange frameworks.

Construed External Image and Organizational Identification: A Test of the Moderating Influence of Need for Self-Esteem

According to Social Identity Theory (cf., J. G. March & H. A. Simon, 1958), individuals tend to identify with prestigious or high-status groups. Researchers (J. E. Dutton, J. M. Dukerich, & C. V. Harquail, 1994) have revealed that organizational members also identify with organizations that have attractive public images. To gain a better understanding of the theoretical reasons underlying the relationship between image and identification in organizations, the authors examined this relationship in a healthcare setting. In addition, they investigated need for esteem as a moderator of the relationship between construed external image and organizational identification. Consistent with previous findings, the present results indicated that construed external image is positively related to organizational identification. Perhaps it is more important that the present findings also supported need for esteem as a moderator of the relationship between construed external image and organizational identification.

Comparing the Sample-Weighted and Unweighted Meta-Analysis: An Applied Perspective

An extensive comparison of the sample-weighted method (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990), and a newer unweighted method (Osburn & Callender, 1992) of meta-analysis is presented using actual data. Several of the advantages of the unweighted method predicted by Osburn and Callendar’s simulation research did not always hold in actual application. Specifically, the unweighted method did not always produce larger estimates of observed variance, credibility intervals, and confidence intervals than the sample-weighted method when large sample outliers are present. Also, Osburn and Callender’s research on mean sampling variance formulae did not generalize to meta-analysis using the average correlation estimator to measure sample error variance. Finally, results show that while both methods may generate similar parameter and variance estimates in primary meta-analysis, they may lead researchers to reach different substantive conclusions in the analysis of moderators.

A Closer Look at Select Cognitive Precursors to Organizational Turnover: What Has Been Missed and Why

Two meta-analytic procedures are used to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and selected withdrawal cognitions. Moderating influences not found in previous integrative research were identified by controlling for the influence of a Large sample-size outlier and a target of behavioral intention, i.e., intention to stay versus, in tendon to leave. Findings for 49 studies indicate previous integrative models of turnover by Hom, Caranikas-Walker, Prussia, and Griffeth, and of Tett and Meyer should be altered to reflect context (civilian versus military) and intention target (staying versus leaving) moderators but not an intention to turnover or a moderator of withdrawal cognition as indicated by Tett and Meyer in 1993. The adequacy of measures of current intention to leave is discussed regarding their consistency with recent intention theory. General implications for meta-analytic research are discussed with regard to accounting for sample-size outliers.

ANOTHER LOOK AT PREEMPLOYMENT PREDICTORS OF GENERAL UNION ATTITUDES

This study replicated and extended the family socialization model of development of attitudes toward unions. Previous tests of this model were conducted using Canadian samples, and this study used a sample from the United States. The results were generally supportive of the model, although the magnitude of the correlations was much smaller. Contrary to expectations, only Marxist beliefs about work were significantly related to general attitude about unions, while Humanistic beliefs about work and Protestant Work Ethic were not.