Social Support scale

Description

 This measure, (Social Support) developed by Caplan et al. (1975), includes subscales that describe the support an employee perceives is available from his or her co­ workers, supervisor, spouse, and family/friends. It describes the extent to which these three sources go out of their way to help an employee, are easy to talk to, can be relied on when things get tough on the job, and are willing to listen to an employee’s personal problems. These types of support have been characterized as emotional (easy to talk to and willing to listen to personal problems) and instrumental (make things easier and can be relied on). This measure has been widely used and has remained one of the most established scales used to measure social support in a job (Lim, 1996).

Reliability

Coefficient alpha for the supervisor support subscale ranged from .86 to .91 (Lee & Ashforth, 1993; Repeti & Cosmas, 1991;). Alpha for co-worker sup­ port was .79 (Repeti & Cosmas, 1991). Lim (1996) combined respondents’ scores on the supervisor and co-workers support subscales into a measure of work-based support. This eight-item scale had a coefficient alpha of .80.

Validity

Supervisor and co-worker support correlated positively with overall job sat­isfaction and work group cohesiveness (Repeti & Cosmas, 1991). Lim (1996) found that work-based support correlated negatively with job insecu­rity, job dissatisfaction, and noncompliant job behaviors. Scheck, Kinicki, and Davy (1995) found through confirmatory factor analysis that combining the measures of instrumental and emotional social support into a single mea­ sure fit the data best.

Source

Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., French, J. R. P., Van Harrison, R., & Pinneau. S. R. (1980). Job demands and worker health. Ann Arbor: University of Michi­gan, Institute of Social Research. Items were taken from text, pp. 251-252. Copyright © 1980. Reproduced with permission.

Items

Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 4 = very much, 3 = somewhat, 2 = a little, I = not at all, and O=don’t have any such person.

1. How much does each of these people go out of their way to do things to make your work life easier for you?
   1. Your immediate supervisor
   2. Other people at
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

2. How easy is it to talk with each of the following people?
   1. Your immediate supervisor
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

3. How much can each of these people be relied on when things get tough at work?
   1. Your immediate supervisor (boss)
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

4. How much is each of the following people willing to listen to your personal problems?
   1. Your immediate supervisor
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

The items labeled A (IA, 2A, 3A, 4A) constitute the Social Support from Supervisor Index. Similarly, the items labeled B and C constitute the Social Support from Others at Work Index and the Social Support from Wife, Friends and Relatives Index.