The interactive effects of instrumental supervisor support and emotional co-worker support on employee adjustment

Ashanti Graves (2010). The interactive effects of instrumental supervisor support and emotional co-worker support on employee adjustment Honours Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.

       
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Author Ashanti Graves
Thesis Title The interactive effects of instrumental supervisor support and emotional co-worker support on employee adjustment
School, Centre or Institute School of Psychology
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2010
Thesis type Honours Thesis
Supervisor Jimmieson, Nerina L.
Total pages 81
Abstract/Summary The impact that social support has on employees of the human service sector is extremely important due to the adverse effects that emotional demands have on a variety of employee adjustment indicators. While the main and buffering effects of social support have been extensively studied in the occupational stress literature, research on the interactive effects of different dimensions of social support is lacking. The present study investigated the complexities of the social support construct by proposing that social support may originate from different sources (i.e., supervisors and co-workers) and consist of different types (i.e., instrumental and emotional). Extended from the stress-support matching hypothesis, this study tested the main and interactive effects of instrumental supervisor support and emotional co-worker support on employee psychological well-being, job satisfaction, and intentions to resign. This study was conducted on a sample of community care employees (N = 256). Results revealed support for the main effects model, partial support for the stress-buffering hypothesis, and a new insight into the interactions between social support dimensions. A compensatory effect was found such that, when one dimension of social support was high and the other was low, employee job satisfaction remained high. Furthermore, when instrumental supervisor support was low, high emotional co-worker support played a significant role in reducing the negative effects that emotional demands had on employees' intentions to resign. The present study emphasises the importance of examining specific dimensions of social support in order to obtain an accurate picture of how different sources and types of social support operate in an emotionally demanding work context. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

 
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Created: Tue, 05 Apr 2011, 11:19:56 EST by Lucy O'Brien on behalf of School of Psychology