Perceived Organizational Support scale

Description

This measure, (Perceived Organizational Support) developed by Eisenberger et al. (1986), describes employee perceptions about the extent to which an organization is willing to reward greater efforts by the employee because the organization values the em­ployee’s contribution and cares about his or her well-being. The measure includes eight items that measure an employee’s perceptions of the degree to which the organization values the worker’s contributions and nine items about actions that the organization might take that would affect the well­ being of the employee. Some studies have used an abbreviated version con­sisting of the nine items with the highest factor loadings in the original scale development study (Moorman, Blakely, & Niehoff, 1998; Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997).

Reliability

Coefficient alpha values ranged from .74 to .95 (Cropanzano, Howes, Grandey, & Toth, 1997; Eisenberger, Cummings, Armeli, & Lynch, 1997; Eisenberger et al., 1990; Hutchinson, Valentino, & Kirkner, 1998; Lee & Ashforth, 1993; Lynch, Eisenberger, & Armeli, 1999; Moorman et al., 1998; Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997).

Validity

Perceived organizational support correlated positively with overall job satis­ faction, organizational commitment, direct and indirect control at work, job discretion, interpersonal helping, affective attachment to the organization, pay/promotion expectancies, approval/recognition expectancies, and em­ployee performance ratings (Cropanzano et al., 1997; Eisenberger et al., 1997; Eisenberger et al., 1990; Hutchinson et al., 1998; Lee & Ashforth, 1993; Moorman et al., 1998). Perceived organizational support correlated negatively with perceived organizational politics, turnover intentions, days absent, role stress, and emotional exhaustion (Cropanzano et al., 1997; Eisenberger et al., 1990; Lee & Ashforth, 1993).

Wayne, Shore, and Liden (1997) found through factor analysis that perceived organizational support was empirically distinct from developmental experiences, leader-member exchange (LMX), affective commitment, and intentions to quit. Eisenberger et al. (1997) found through confirmatory fac­ tor analysis that perceived organizational support and overall job satis­ faction were empirically distinct.

 Source

Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchinson, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 500-507. Items were taken from Table 1, p. 502. Copyright© 1986 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.

Items

Responses are obtained on a 7-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree.

Instructions:

Listed below is a series of statements that represent possible feelings that in­dividuals might have about the company or organization for which they work. With respect to your own feelings about the particular organization for which you are now working-[name of organization]-please indicate the degree of your agreement or disagreement with each statement by checking one of the seven alternatives below each statement.

Items denoted with (S) are used in the shortened nine-item version of the measure. Items denoted with (R) are reverse scored.

1. The organization values my contribution to its well-being
2. If the organization could hire someone to replace me at a lower salary it would do so (R)
3. The organization fails to appreciate any extra effort from me (R)
4. The organization strongly considers my goals and values (S)
5. The organization would ignore any complaint from me (R)
6. The organization disregards my best interests when it makes decisions that affect me (R)
7. Help is available from the organization when I have a problem (S)
8. The organization really cares about my well-being (S)
9. The organization is willing to extend itself in order to help me perform my job to the best of my ability (S)
10. Even if I did the best job possible, the organization would fail to notice (R) (S)
11. The organization is willing to help me when I need a special favor
12. The organization cares about my general satisfaction at work (S)
13. If given the opportunity, the organization would take advantage of me (R)
14. The organization shows very little concern for me (R) (S)
15. The organization cares about my opinions (S)
16. The organization takes pride in my accomplishments at work (S)
17. The organization tries to make my job as interesting as possible