Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2016, 4, 46-57
http://www.scirp.org/journal/jss
ISSN Online: 2327-5960
ISSN Print: 2327-5952
DOI: 10.4236/jss.2016.412005
December 22, 2016
Perceived Organizational Support and
Employee Engagement: Based on the Research
of Organizational Identification and
Organizational Justice
Kailiang Dai
1*
, Xinyu Qin
2
1
School of Business Administration, South China University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China
2
College of Continuing Education College, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China
Abstract
On the basis of theoretical research,
this paper constructs the relationship model of
perceived organizational support, organizational identification, employee engage
ment
and organizational justice. With questionnaires from 350 employees in 28 provinces,
we empirically tested that the organizational identification plays a mediating role and
organizational justice has a moderating effect by using the correlation analysis and
structural equation model and regression analysis. The results show that: firstly, pe
r-
ceived organizational support and employee engagement have signific
antly positive
correlation, perceived organizational
support applies directly positive influence on
employee engagement; s
econdly, perceived organizational support can also play a
role in employee engagement through organizational identification, in other words,
organizational identification has partial mediating effect between perceived organ
i-
zational support and employee engagement; thirdly, this paper verified that organ
i-
zational justice plays a moderating role on the relationship between perceived org
a-
nizational support and organizational identification.
Keywords
Perceived Organizational Support, Organizational Identification, Employee
Engagement, Organizational Justice
1. Introduction
The formal CEO of GM once said, any company who wants to win in the fierce compe-
tition must try to make their own employees dedicated. It can be known that employee
How to cite this paper:
Dai, K.L. and Qin,
X
.Y. (2016) Perceived Organizational Sup-
port
and
Employee Engagement: Based on
the Research of Organizational Identific
a-
tion and Organizational Justice
.
Open Jou
r-
nal of Social Sciences
,
4
, 46-57.
http://dx.doi.org/10.
4236/jss.2016.412005
Received:
November 21, 2016
Accepted:
December 19, 2016
Published:
December 22, 2016
Copyright © 201
6 by authors and
Scientific
Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
L
icense (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access
K. L. Dai, X. Y. Qin
47
engagement has a significant positive impact on the organization’s benefit and long-
term development. The latest research report released by the well-known Gallup con-
sulting firm showed that there are only 13% of the total staff in the world can be re-
garded as dedicated, and the proportion of employees in the work of the problem is as
high as 63%. Compared to the world average level, the proportion of dedicated em-
ployees in China is only 6% which makes Chinese enterprises feel anxious. It can be
seen that China’s enterprises who want to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage in
the increasingly competitive market environment are required to improve their em-
ployee engagement urgently. So, what can domestic enterprises do to improve em-
ployee engagement? Chen Anqi [1] found that employees’ organizational identification
and employee engagement are positively correlated through the questionnaire survey of
new employees in financial industry from four different cities. In addition, Sun Jianmin
and Wang Zhen [2] analyzed 122 employees of 601 companies in domestic and found
that organizational support can predict the role of organizational identification effec-
tively. By empirical research, Gao Jianli [3] put forward that enterprises who pay atten-
tion to the correspondence between employees psychological capital and organizational
can have a significant effect to improve employee engagement. In addition, Usmani and
Jamal think that organizational justice has a significant effect on the employees’ job be-
haviors and their work attitudes that ultimately result in a positive if confirmed or,
otherwise negative organizational outcome [4]. Hence, such notion has great and sig-
nificant implication for the individuals and the organizations as a whole [5]. It can be
seen that the relationship among employee’s organizational support, organizational
identification, employee engagement and organization justice has been paid more and
more attention by experts and scholars, meanwhile many valuable results have been
achieved. However, the research on the internal mechanism of how organizational
support affects employee engagement is to be deepened. Specifically, what is the inter-
nal mechanism of perceived organizational support and employee engagement? In or-
der to answer these above questions, this paper will mainly focus on discussing the fol-
lowing three aspects: the influence of organizational support on employee engagement,
2) the mediating effect of organizational identification on organizational support and
engagement, 3) to explore the regulatory role of organizational justice in the model of
this study. And then we use psychological contract theory, social exchange theory and
social equity theory and so on to explain those questions above.
2. Literature Review and Research Hypothesis
2.1. The Relationship between Organizational Support and
Organizational Identification
Perceived Organizational Support (POS) was first put forward by Professor Eisenberg-
er, he defined this concept as the degree to which employees believe that their organiza-
tion values their contributions and cares about their well-being and fulfills socioemo-
tional needs.
According to social identity theory (SIT), an organization may provide a basis for
K. L. Dai, X. Y. Qin
48
employees’ self-construals, notably if it is perceived as prestigious or distinctive [6].
Organizational identification is thus a specific form of social identification and may be
defined as employees’ cognitive self-awareness of organizational membership [7]. Re-
search has shown employees may identify to several targets including their work group,
their department or their organization as a whole [8]. Identification will, in turn, im-
pact employees’ commitment [9].
According to the hierarchy of needs theory put forward by Masilou’s, everyone needs
to be taken care of. Emotional need is more detailed than the physical need. Bishop and
Goldsby’s research shows that if the emotional support, financial support or the career
development support were perceived by the employee, their sense of belonging would
be satisfied and thus their emotional attachment to the organization be strengthened.
Organization support prompts employees to perceive their own value and the affirma-
tion of the informal status, thereby enhancing the perception of organizational attrac-
tiveness. Because this process gives individuals a more positive social identity, as a re-
sult individuals are more likely to produce a sense of identity to those organizations
that are able to give them a positive trait [10]. This is consistent with what David and
Malayka concluded through the empirical study of the company’s employees that em-
ployees perceived support from the organization has significantly positive impact on
organizational identification [11]. Based on the above analysis, the following assump-
tions are put forward:
H1: Perceived organizational support is positively correlated with organizational iden-
tification.
2.2. The Relationship between Perceived Organizational Support and
Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organization and its
employees. An “engaged employee” is defined as one who is fully absorbed by and en-
thusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s
reputation and interests. Perceived organizational support reflects the organization’s
overall expectations of its members and recognition of personal value and their contri-
bution to it in a subjective perception way. “Social exchange theory” and “reciprocity
principle” have always been the theoretical basis of research on organizational support
and employee engagement. The premise of the social exchange relationship is that if a
person gives another person a favor, he believes that he will receive a corresponding
return from the other person in the future [12]. Similarly, if organizational support was
perceived by the employees, then they will believe that the organization will fulfill its
obligations of exchange in the future and think that they are obligated to repay the or-
ganization, so they will work hard in order to obtain the material and spiritual rewards,
thus realize social exchange. According to the principle of reciprocity, only when em-
ployees perceive support and caring from the organization that they will give positive
organizational commitment and contribution and make active attitude or behavior
changes in order to make effort to achieve organization goals. Related research shows
that organizational support has a direct positive predictive effect on knowledge work-
K. L. Dai, X. Y. Qin
49
ers’ job involvement [13]. The research on the negative behavior of the job involvement
conducted by Wayne found that perceived organizational support can significantly in-
hibit the negative behavior of employees [14]. Based on the above analysis, the follow-
ing assumptions are put forward:
H2: Perceived organizational support is positively correlated with employee engage-
ment.
2.3. The Relationship between Organizational Identification and
Employee Engagement
Organizational identification is particularly important for the development of the or-
ganization, for it has a certain degree of causality with the employee engagement. Em-
ployees with high organizational identification will be actively involved into the work
with actively attitude and behavior, for instance, the consistency of personal goals and
organizational goals, to take initiative to remove the personal behavior that does not
conform to the values of the organization, etc. Specifically, employees with high orga-
nizational identification will be more concerned with the organization’s norms and
values when they making decisions and be able to work diligently in accordance with
the objectives and requirements of the organization without the supervision of others.
Related organizational behavior research confirmed that organizational identification is
significantly positive correlation with those indicators that help to achieve organiza-
tional goals such as employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, em-
ployee performance and so forth. Ashforth and Mael believe that the level of organiza-
tional identification plays a decisive role in the employees’ work motivation and beha-
vior [15]. The employees with high organizational identification tend to show a high
level of support and a higher level of commitment to the organization, and their deci-
sion making is more consistent with the goals of the organization. Based on the above
analysis, the following assumptions are put forward:
H3: Organizational identification is positively correlated with employee engagement.
2.4. The Mediating Role of Organizational Identification
On the basis of social identity theory, organizational identity is the psychological link
connecting members and organizations, it is a process of members defined themselves
and in the psychological belonging to the organization, in addition, organizational
support is an important source of the organization identification [16]. Self presentation
theory believes that the high level of organizational support can make the organization
members feel content with what the organization provide to them, and then lead to the
increase of the sense of identity of the organization. So they will work harder to prove
their worth to the organization and worth the organization to provide more support,
the results show a higher degree of employee engagement [17]. In addition, the organi-
zational support theory shows that if employees perceived that the organization con-
cerned with their welfare and value their contribution, employees will consciously join
the membership of the organization to self-identity, so are more willing to immerse
K. L. Dai, X. Y. Qin
50
themselves in the role of the organization, to spare no effort to do their work and in-
crease their self-expression performance in the work. As a result, a higher level of en-
gagement reflected in them [18]. Based on the above analysis, the following assump-
tions are put forward:
H4: Organizational identification plays an intermediary role in the process of orga-
nizational support and employee engagement.
2.5. The Moderating Effect of Organizational Justice
Fairness issue has always been the eternal theme of the organizational. Researchers hold
that if employees believe they are treated fairly, they would have a positive attitude to-
wards their work, work results and superiors. In addition, according to the group value
model, employees will regard organizational justice as their social information position
in the organization. If the perceived organizational justice degree is high, then the em-
ployees will hold that the organization pays attention to the contribution of each mem-
ber and trust them fully, and thus enhance staff’s trust to organization. The trust to the
organization will strengthen the member’s sense of belonging and the ties between the
two sides, so that employees will have a higher degree of organizational identification
[19]. To some extent, organizational support transfers employees the expectations from
the organization and provide necessary conditions to complete this expectation, orga-
nizational justice is the institutional basis that can guarantee the employees to complete
the expectations from the organization. It is the interaction between organizational sup-
port and organizational justice that influences the identification of employees. Based on
the above analysis, the following assumptions are put forward:
H5: 0rganizational justice plays a moderating role on the relationship between per-
ceived organizational support and organizational identification as shown in
Figure 1.
3. Research Design
3.1. Samples
In this study, a systematic sampling and stratified sampling are used to ensure the sam-
ples are representative. 350 respondents in a total of 52 companies are from different
provinces and regions in China. In this survey, 350 questionnaires were sent out, 301
were recovered, the number of the effective questionnaires was 261, the effective rate
Figure 1. Research model.
perceivedorganizational support
organizational
identification
employee engagement
organizational justice