This study examined the economic and social exchanges between employee and employer within a model in which perceived organizational support and affective and continuance commitment served as predictors and performance, altruism citizenship behavior, absence, and lateness served as outcomes. Two samples were used. 384 master of business administration students participated in Study 1, and Study 2 consisted of 181 aerospace employees and their managers, working for a single organization. Both studies supported the distinctiveness between economic and social exchanges. Study 2 showed the overall fit of the proposed model was adequate, though only social exchange, and not economic exchange, directly predicted the performance outcomes. These results suggest the importance of perceived exchanges between employee and employer.

This study examined a model of the antecedents and consequences of perceived organizational support (POS) and leader-member exchange (LMX). It was predicted that organizational justice (procedural and distributive justice) and organizational practices that provide recognition to the employee (feelings of inclusion and recognition from upper management) would influence POS. For LMX, it was predicted that leader reward (distributive justice and contingent rewards) and punishment behavior would be important antecedents. Results based on a sample of 211 employee-supervisor dyads indicated that organizational justice, inclusion, and recognition were related to POS and contingent rewards were related to LMX. In terms of consequences, POS was related to employee commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, whereas LMX predicted performance ratings.

Prior integrations of the leader-member exchange (LMX) and psychological contract literatures have not clarified how within-group LMX differentiation influences employees' attitudes and behaviors in the employment relationship. Therefore, using a sample of 278 members and managers of 31 intact work groups at 4 manufacturing plants, the authors examined how LMX operating at the within-group level (relative LMX, or RLMX) and the group level influenced perceptions of psychological contract fulfillment and employee-level outcomes. Controlling for individual-level perceptions of LMX quality, results indicated a positive relationship between RLMX and fulfillment, which was strengthened as group-level variability in LMX quality increased. Perceptions of fulfillment mediated the relationship between RLMX and performance and sportsmanship behaviors. The importance of conceptualizing LMX as simultaneously operating at multiple levels is highlighted.

and Sowa (1986) recently conducted a study focused on a measure of perceived employer commitment that they called the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS). In the present study, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the dimensionality of the SPOS and to determine the distinctiveness of this construct from other similar constructs. Participants were 330 employees in a large corporation headquartered in the southeastern United States. The results support the SPOS as a unidimensional scale that is distinguishable from affective and continuance commitment. However, the data raise some question as to the empirical distinction between the SPOS and satisfaction.

Identification with a psychological group or organization (IDPG) is defined as the perception of sharing experiences of a focal group and sharing characteristics of the group's members. IDPG is conceptually distinct from the related concept of organizational commitment. In the present study with 263 employed persons, IDPG was shown to be empirically distinct from organizational commitment. In addition, IDPG was shown to have significantly less overlap than commitment with three related concepts: job satisfaction, organizational satisfaction, and job involvement.