Influence of Hierarchical Perceived Support difference：Perceived Supervisor Support and Coworker Support

Abstract

Rhoades & Eisenberger [1] stated supervisors act as agent of the organization, then employees develop global view concerning the degree to which supervisors value their contributions and care about their well-being. Eisenberger & Stinglehamber [2] indicated strength of influence on the perceived organizational support (POS) follows to the status of supervisors. Zagenczyk et al. [3] reported coworkers' influence on POS through social network. But there are few studies on perceived supervisor support (PSS) depending on hierarchy and perceived coworker support (PCS). This studies investigated difference of influence on affective commitment (AC) and citizenship behavior (OCB) from PSS and PCS. Subject of research are technical employees working in steel product factories located in Japan. We analyzed data by regression analysis and covariance structure analysis. We found that (1) Influence of PSS on AC and OCB does not depends on hierarchical order of the organization. (2) PCS influence on AC and OCB more than that from factory manager and immediate supervisor. (3) Affective commitment (AC) mediate between perceived coworker and supervisor support and citizenship behavior. Study suggested that perceived support of coworker and powerful boss have strong influence on employees.