The relationships between perceived organizational support and safety participation: social exchange processes

Purpose. We examined how instrumental and obligation processes explain the relationship
between perceived organizational support (POS) and safety participation (SP). Since SP is
discretionary, employees can use it to reciprocate the support they receive from the
organization. Reciprocation is a key element involved in social exchanges, and previous
research has used social exchange theory to understand the relationship between beneficial
leader-member exchanges and discretionary safety activities (Hofmann et al., 2003), and
between POS and organizational commitment (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002).
Methodology. To verify our hypotheses, we tested a Structural Equation Model (SEM) with
MPlus on a sample of 536 workers from a Belgian public company
Results. Results showed that perceived management commitment to safety and safetyspecific
trust in the supervisor interact in explaining SP (instrumental processes) and that felt
obligation mediated the relationship between POS and SP, directly and indirectly through
safety citizenship role definitions (obligation processes). A key finding is that felt obligation
did not mediate the relationship between POS and SP through job engagement, suggesting
that the motivational aspects of job engagement are separable from exchange processes. Limitations. Limitations are the use of single-source and self-reported data and the crosssectional
nature of the study.
Research/Practical Implications. An important implication for companies comes from the
powerful role played by managers: building trusting relationship and encouraging managers
to show support to their employees in a context where safety is important are keys to achieve
SP.
Originality/Value. This study contributes to extend our understanding about the different
social-exchange process (instrumentality; obligation).