The purpose of this applied study was to examine the role of mentoring relationships in shaping employees’ views of how supportive the organization is of the employee and how engaged the employee is in their job duties. The extent to which employees perceive the organization as supportive was also examined as a mediator between mentoring functions and employee engagement. Employee engagement encompasses how much employees are absorbed with, excited by, and dedicated to their work. Previous research suggests that leaders and other high-status employees can increase employees’ perceptions of organizational support (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa, 1986; Kurtessessi et al., 2017; Orpen, 1997; Park, Newman, Zhang, Wu, & Hook, 2016; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). Likewise, perceived organizational support (POS) has been shown to increase employee engagement (Biswas & Bhatnagar, 2013; Gupta, Argarwal, & Khatri, 2016; Saks, 2006). However, there is little research that considers mentoring as a mechanism to increase both POS and employee engagement. Surveys including instruments measuring perceptions of mentoring functions (i.e., Academic Mentoring Behavior Scale), POS (i.e, the Scale of Perceived Organizational Support), and employee engagement (i.e., Utretch Work Engagement Scale-9) were completed by 2,326 participants across nine universities in the state of Illinois. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the differences in POS and employee engagement between mentored and non-mentored individuals and to assess the impact of gender and racial/ ethnic background on perceptions of mentoring functions. Lastly, a mediation analysis with POS mediating the relationship between employee engagement and mentoring was conducted. Results showed that mentored individuals had significantly higher levels of POS and employee engagement than non-mentored individuals regardless of their job positions. However, neither gender nor racial/ethnic background significantly predicted participants’ perceptions of mentoring functions. Finally, POS partially mediated the relationship between employee engagement and mentoring. These results suggest that mentoring can increase employees' perceptions of being appreciated, noticed, and cared for by employers and this could partially explain why employees may be more inspired by, enthusiastic about, and proud of their work when involved in mentoring relationships.

Unjust customer complaints are increasing, liberal redress policies are becoming more commonplace, and front line employees are expected to smile and just deal with fictitious complaints with redress and a sincere smile.  Is this justly so? This research helps to fill the current gaps in complaint, justice, and emotional labor research by empirically examining employee perceptions of perceived opportunistic versus perceived legitimate complaints.       This research completed one hotel and one restaurant study using  a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design to examine complaint type (opportunistic/ legitimate) and perceived organizational support (high/low).   Data was collected from a large reputable market research firm. Results find that employees from both studies experience statistically significantly lower perceptions of procedural, interactional, and distributive justice when dealing with opportunistic as opposed to legitimate complaints.  Perceptions of distributive justice statistically significantly increased employee\'s emotive effort and emotional dissonance.  Additionally, for all of the relationships in the hotel study and with distributive justice in the restaurant study, perceived organizational support had no significant effect on employee perceptions of justice or emotional dissonance or effort.   Managerial implications of employee justice perceptions and customer complaint policies are discussed. / Ph. D.

Workplace safety, if not managed appropriately, can result in human and economic tolls. The need to establish and maintain a safe working environment has probably never been more important. Despite a mounting emphasis on safe work practices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a total of 5,702 fatalities in the United States in 2005. Among these fatalities, Latino workers, defined as both foreign-born and native-born (U.S.-born) workers of Latino ethnicity (BLS, 2006; Dong and Platner, 2004), accounted for 16% of those fatalities (BLS, 2006). Researchers are increasingly acknowledging that organizational factors are important in workplace safety (Hofmann, Jacobs, and Landy, 1995; Hurst, Bellamy, Geyer, and Ashley, 1991). However, there is a lack of cross-cultural comparison in this area. With the continuing increase in Latino construction workers and the level of injuries and fatalities, little attention has focused on the comparison of employment relationships between Latino and non-Latino construction workers and their supervisors and work environment. Therefore, this research endeavor used social exchange theory to examine the role of organizational factors in small construction firms to help explain why Latino workers have a disproportionate number of construction casualties compared to their non-Latino counterparts and to design a safety training program to help reduce the number of injuries, accidents, and fatalities in the workplace. The results of this is research endeavor demonstrated that both Latino and non-Latino and Latino groups had relatively equal perceptions of organizational support and distributive justice implying that Latinos and Latinos have identical support needs or that the construction firms' practices meet the support the workers need regardless of ethnicity. In addition, the study found ethnic group differences for safety climate, safety behavior, and cultural dimensions, which may contribute to the disproportionate number of fatalities for Latino workers. After uncovering group differences, this study tested the affect of training on perceived organizational support, distributive justice, safety climate, and safety behavior. This research demonstrated that providing training, of any type, as a source of perceived organizational support increases workers' perception of organizational support. Additionally, the study concluded that embedded sources of perceived organizational support in the training program increase workers' perceptions of distributive justice and safety climate. As a result, guidelines to improve workers' perception of organizational support and safety climate were created. Since high perceptions of safety climate are linked to less risky safety behaviors, embedding perceived organizational support into training programs can have an indirect affect on the workers' safety behavior. For that reason, improving the safety behavior of workers and the workers' perception of a safe work environment can lead to reduced accidents, injuries, and fatalities in the construction industry. / Ph. D.

Syfte: Syftet är att öka förståelsen för hur perceived organizational support (POS) påverkar verksamheters fördelning av ansvar ur ett ledarperspektiv, med avseende på medarbetares vilja att ta ansvar.  Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi som präglats av den hermeneutiska forskningstraditionen samt ett konstruktivistiskt synsätt. Data från tidigare forskning låg till grund för den teoretiska referensramen medan tio semistrukturerade intervjuer utgjorde det empiriska materialet. Dessa båda bearbetades och jämfördes genom en tematisk analys.  Resultat och Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att stöd från organisationen påverkar medarbetarnas vilja att ta ansvar genom att påverka beslutsprocessen i samband med ansvarstagande. Negativa effekter och risker som kan uppstå när ansvar fördelas på medarbetare kan med hjälp av rätt stöd från organisationen motverkas till en betydande del. Studiens bidrag: Studiens teoretiska bidrag är att visa på den påverkan som POS har på den individuella beslutsprocessen som sker kring ansvarstagande, till följd av strukturell Empowerment. En ökad förståelse har även skett då studien skett ur ett ledarperspektiv. Det praktiska bidraget som studien ger innefattar en redogörelse för hur POS kan användas samt påverka flera av delarna som innefattas av den beslutsprocess som sker hos medarbetare. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vårt förslag till fortsatt forskning är att studera POS påverkan på andra typer av beslutsprocesser. Detta anser vi kan skapa fördjupat och relevant material på området. Vi upplever även att POS:s påverkan och effekter på ansvarsfördelningen kan studeras ur ett medarbetarperspektiv. En sådan studie kan belysa de effekter som uppstår utifrån den psykologiska grenen av Empowerment. / Aim: The aim of the study is to increase the understanding of how perceived organizational support (POS) affects organization’s distribution of responsibility from a leader perspective, with regard to employee’s willingness to take responsibility. Method: The study has been conducted with a qualitative strategy and is characterized by the hermeneutic research- tradition and a constructive viewpoint. Data analysis of previous research has been conducted to establish the theoretical framework. Alongside itw, ten semi-structured, interviews have been conducted to establish empirical data. All the data has been compared with a thematical analysis. Result & Conclusions: The results of the study show that organizational support effects employees’ willingness to take on responsibility by affecting the decision process, which is connected to taking responsibility. Negative effects and risks that can occur with distribution of responsibility to employees can be largely outmaneuvered by the organization. Contribution of the thesis: The theoretical contribution is to shed light on the effects that emerges following the influence that POS have on distributing responsibility, as a consequence of structural Empowerment. Increased understanding has been a result due to the study taking the perspective of leaders. The practical contribution consists of a exposition on how POS affects the multiple stages covered by the individual decision process that takes place. Suggestions for research to come: We see the need to broaden the area involving POS and different decision-making processes. We also think that it would be relevant for the research area to examine POS and psychological empowerment, which could be done from a employee perspective.

Anställdas upplevda kontroll över sin arbetssituation varierar från person till person och kan till viss del bero på deras ålder och hur de upplever sin omgivning på arbetsplatsen. Studiens syfte var att undersöka eventuella samband mellan Work Locus of Control och upplevt organisationsstöd, arbetstillfredsställelse och ålder. Datainsamlingen genomfördes genom att dela ut en enkät till anställda tjänstemän med administrativa arbetsuppgifter inom offentlig och privat sektor i södra Sverige. Urvalet består av 74 deltagare (17 män och 57 kvinnor). För att mäta variablerna användes Work Locus of Control-skalan, items ur Survey of Perceived Organizational Support samt Overall Job Satisfaction. Enkäten inkluderade även bakgrundsfrågor. En korrelationsanalys med variablerna gav resultatet att Work Locus of Control har signifikanta samband med de undersökta variablerna. Resultaten går i linje med tidigare forskning och indikerar att personer som i större grad upplever sig kunna kontrollera sin arbetssituation även upplever högre organisationsstöd och högre arbetstillfredsställelse, samt att den upplevda kontrollen är högre hos äldre individer. En multipel regressionsanalys visar att hög arbetstillfredsställelse bäst predicerar en intern Work locus of Control. Resultaten visar inte någon signifikant skillnad i Work Locus of Control mellan anställda inom offentlig och privat sektor. / Employees' perceived control over their work situation varies from person to person and can to some extent depend on their age and how they perceive their environment in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible connections between Work Locus of Control and Perceived Organizational Support, Job Satisfaction and age. Data collection was performed by handing out a survey to officials with administrative duties within the public and private sectors in southern Sweden. The sample consists of 74 participants (17 men and 57 women). To measure the variables, the Work Locus of Control Scale, items from the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support and Overall Job Satisfaction, were used. The survey also included background questions. A correlation analysis of the variables yielded that the work locus of control scale has significant correlations with the studied variables. The results are in line with previous research, indicating that individuals which to a greater extent perceive themselves able to control their work situation also experience higher organizational support and higher job satisfaction, and that perceived control is higher for older individuals. A multiple regression analysis shows that a high Job Satisfaction is the best predictor of an internal Work Locus of Control. The results show no significant difference in Work Locus of Control between employees in the public and private sectors.

This study investigates how the culture of an organization is related to the job satisfaction and turnover intentions of government accountants. I show that perceived organizational support serves as a mediator between organizational culture and both turnover intentions and job satisfaction. I evaluate how cultural effects have changed over time, and assess how the relations between the hypothesized associations differ between supervisory and staff accountants. I also look for differences in how accountants and primary care nurses may perceive organizational culture. I develop the constructs of interest, describe the proposed relationships, develop hypotheses, describe the sample frame, provide a detailed review of the methodology and describe the results. I conclude with a discussion of implications and limitations.

Cette recherche vise à évaluer l’influence de la rémunération fixe et de la rémunération variable sur la motivation autonome au travail. La recherche mobilise la théorie de l’autodétermination. Elle se compose de deux études distinctes basées sur deux échantillons de 147 puis de 137 salariés de la même coopérative viti-vinicole. La première étude a pour objectif de tester un modèle de recherche qui tente d’expliquer les effets du niveau de rémunération fixe sur la motivation autonome et la satisfaction au travail ainsi que sur un ensemble de comportements reliés. Les résultats supportent l’hypothèse que le support organisationnel perçu médiatise totalement la relation entre la rémunération fixe et la motivation autonome. Cette étude supporte également les hypothèses que la motivation autonome médiatise totalement la relation entre le soutien organisationnel perçu et l’engagement, puis que l’engagement médiatise totalement la relation entre la motivation autonome et la satisfaction au travail.La deuxième étude a pour objectif de tester un modèle de recherche qui tente d’expliquer les effets modérateurs des rémunérations variables sur la relation entre la motivation autonome et la performance au travail. Les effets modérateurs des rémunérations variables individuelles et collectives sont étudiés de façon différenciée sur différentes facettes de la performance : dans la tâche, contextuelle et adaptative. Les résultats de l’étude supportent l’hypothèse que la motivation autonome est positivement reliée à la performance dans la tâche, contextuelle et adaptative. Cette étude supporte également l’hypothèse que les primes individuelles modèrent positivement la relation entre la motivation autonome et les différentes facettes de la performance. / This research aims to evaluate the influence of fixed and variable compensation on autonomous motivation at work. The research mobilizes the self-determination theory. It consists of two separate studies based on two samples of 147 and 137 employees of the same wine cooperative. The aim of the first study is to test a research model that attempts to explain the effects of the fixed compensation level on autonomous motivation and job satisfaction, as well as on a set of related behaviors. The results support the hypothesis that perceived organizational support fully mediates the relationship between fixed compensation and autonomous motivation. This study also supports the hypothesis that autonomous motivation fully mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and engagement, and that engagement fully mediates the relationship between autonomous motivation and job satisfaction. The aim of the second study is to test a research model that attempts to explain the moderating effects of variable compensation on the relationship between autonomous motivation and performance at work. The moderating effects of individual and collective compensation are studied in a differentiated way. Similarly, task, contextual and adaptive performance is examined in a differentiated way. The results of the study support the hypothesis that autonomous motivation is positively related to, task, contextual and adaptive performance. This study also supports the hypothesis that individual compensation positively moderates the relationship between autonomous motivation and the different facets of performance.

Workplace environments and the dynamics that exist within them affect everyone involved, especially coworkers. Although research has investigated how workplace bullying impacts its victims and the organization, little research has examined the effects of workplace bullying from the role of the bystander. Fewer have investigated how Perceived of Organizational Support (POS) may affect the employee's work engagement of those witnesses. The goal of this quantitative study was to determine the effect of POS on work engagement in the employees who witness workplace bullying. An online survey was used with the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, (NAQ-R), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and POS instruments. It was launched on LinkedIn and 152 respondents participated and were asked to snowball the link. The study employed the affective events theory that presupposes that the occupational atmosphere influences those in proximity to negative behaviors. Regression results showed that only POS (t (150) = 5.14, p < 0.001) predicted employees' work engagement. On the other hand, witnessing workplace bullying (t (150) = -0.69, p = 0.49) did not affect employees' work engagement. This study provides a useful framework to illustrate how the environment of workplace bullying affects an organization's human and fiscal resources, contributing to the body of knowledge that can benefit organizations by helping to affect social change.

<p>With the intention to investigate the role of HR practices and the Perceived Organization Support (POS) in the process of key employee retention, this study developed a model that was empirically explored through the case studies of Secoroc and ABBCR in order to have such process examined in the managerial context of Swedish organizations. Results indicate that in these companies the employees' perceptions of support from the selected HR practices contribute to the development of POS and job satisfaction. The practices of growth opportunity and challenging work were indicated to be more significant for the retention of key employees in these companies. Interestingly, pay and the relationship between R&D managers and employees indicated to be of also crucial relevance in the process of retaining key employees. Furthermore, there are indications that the Swedish management style signalled to be a facilitator element for the efficiency of such practices in generating job satisfaction for retaining employees. However, the surfaced data from this study indicated that employees of these companies are affectively committed to their managers and to their work rather than to the organization as a whole.</p>

With the intention to investigate the role of HR practices and the Perceived Organization Support (POS) in the process of key employee retention, this study developed a model that was empirically explored through the case studies of Secoroc and ABBCR in order to have such process examined in the managerial context of Swedish organizations. Results indicate that in these companies the employees' perceptions of support from the selected HR practices contribute to the development of POS and job satisfaction. The practices of growth opportunity and challenging work were indicated to be more significant for the retention of key employees in these companies. Interestingly, pay and the relationship between R&amp;D managers and employees indicated to be of also crucial relevance in the process of retaining key employees. Furthermore, there are indications that the Swedish management style signalled to be a facilitator element for the efficiency of such practices in generating job satisfaction for retaining employees. However, the surfaced data from this study indicated that employees of these companies are affectively committed to their managers and to their work rather than to the organization as a whole.