Perceived Organizational Support (POS) is the degree to which employees believe that their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (Eisenberger, Huntington, Huntington, & Sowa, 1986; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002).
POS is generally thought to be the organization’s contribution to a positive reciprocity dynamic with employees, as employees tend to perform better to pay back POS (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). According to the perceived organizational support website (http://www.psychology.uh.edu/pos), research on perceived organizational support began with the observation that if managers are concerned with their employees’ commitment to the organization, employees are focused on the organization’s commitment to them. For employees, the organization serves as an important source of socioemotional resources, such as respect and caring, and tangible benefits, such as wages and medical benefits. Being regarded highly by the organization helps to meet employees’ needs for approval, esteem, and affiliation. Positive valuation by the organization also provides an indication that increased effort will be noted and rewarded. Employees therefore take an active interest in the regard with which they are held by their employer.
Organizational support theory (OST: Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa, 1986; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002; Shore & Shore, 1995) holds that in order to meet socioemotional needs and to assess the benefits of increased work effort, employees form a general perception concerning the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. Such perceived organizational support (POS) would increase employees’ felt obligation to help the organization reach its objectives, their affective commitment to the organization, and their expectation that improved performance would be rewarded. Behavioral outcomes of POS would include increases in inrole and extra-role performance and decreases in stess and withdrawal behaviors such as absenteeism and turnover.
Although there were relatively few studies of POS until the mid 1990’s, research on the topic has burgeoned in the last few years. Rhoades and Eisenberger’s (2002) meta-analysis covered some 70 POS studies carried out through 1999, and over 300 studies have been performed since. The meta-analysis found clear and consistent relationships of POS with its predicted antecedents and consequences.
Recent research
David R. Hekman and colleagues (2009) found that professional employees (e.g. doctors, nurses, lawyers) were more likely to reciprocate POS when they strongly identified with the organization. Indeed, such workers’ organizational identification and professional identification combined to influence performance behaviors. The results suggested that POS had the most positive influence on professional employees’ work performance when employees strongly identified with the organization and weakly identified with the profession.
Measurement Items
POS is typically measured with the eight-item perceived organizational support scale used by Hekman et al. (2009). Respondents are asked to indicate the extent the extent to which they agree with the following statements on a seven-point scale.
- My organization cares about my opinions.
- My organization really cares about my well-being.
- My organization strongly considers my goals and values.
- Help is available from my organization when I have a problem.
- My organization would forgive an honest mistake on my part.
- If given the opportunity, my organization would take advantage of me. (item is reverse-coded)
- My organization shows very little concern for me. (item is reverse-coded)
- My organization is willing to help me, if I need a special favor.