Reciprocity and social exchange relationships in organizations: Examining why and how individuals contribute to organizational social capital

While considerable theoretical and empirical work has focused on outcomes associated with possessing higher levels of social capital, less attention has been given to the examination of factors likely to influence individual behaviors leading to its creation. More specifically, little previous research has considered the potential antecedents and/or correlates of individual contributions to communal social capital in organizations.; This study examined the extent to which relational factors, characterized by perceived social exchange relationship quality within an organization, influence individual contributions to organizational social capital above and beyond dispositional and instrumental motivations for making such contributions. Drawing on social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, it was hypothesized that perceived organizational support, team-member exchange, and leader-member exchange would significantly predict the communal social capital investment behavior of individuals in an organizational setting. It was also hypothesized that an individual's level of education, as well as their centrality in the communication network of the organization would positively moderate these hypothesized relationships. Further, it was predicted that engaging in such behavior would favorably affect individual job satisfaction and affective commitment, as well as leader- and peer-rated performance, and that it would be associated with lower levels of job related stress.; Survey data were collected from teachers and the principal at three high schools in a mid-sized, urban public school district (N = 150). Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling.; Results showed that leader-member exchange and team-member exchange significantly predicted communal social capital investment behavior. Perceived organizational support, however, did not. Further, neither education level nor communication network centrality moderated the observed relationships. Finally, communal social capital investment behavior significantly predicted affective commitment and attributed performance as anticipated, but was only marginally related to job satisfaction and unrelated to job stress.; Taken as a whole, the findings from this study suggest that employees who have a perceived high quality relationship with their immediate supervisor and/or their work group peers are more likely to engage in behaviors that lead to the creation and maintenance of organizational social capital. In turn, these individuals appear to experience more favorable work related outcomes.